FAIRFIELD – Siblings Danielle Hill and Dillon Fry are renovating the former Winn Corp building on West Grimes Avenue in Fairfield.

The brother-sister pair purchased the building from the former owner in April, and immediately got to work gutting the interior. They are remodeling the building inside and out, and will create office spaces ranging from 1,300 square feet to 4,000 square feet.

In addition to the new offices, Impact Fitness & Sports Performance will move into the newly renovated space as well. That business is owned and operated by Danie and her husband Brady Hill. This move will allow the gym to more than triple in size from 3,800 square feet in its current location on South Main Street to 12,000 square feet in its soon-to-be home. Danie and Dillon said they hope to have the new offices and new gym space ready to move into by fall.

THE FRYS IN BUSINESS

Danie and Dillon started doing business together in 2021 when they, along with their father Greg, acquired Select Self-Storage, a collection of roughly 350 storage units next to Winn Corp. Greg owned and operated Fry Construction & Drywall for 40-plus years, and Dillon came into the business after high school. Along the way, Dillon also acquired a small portfolio of rental properties. Though his parents have been involved in property management for a few decades and are now trying to slow down, Dillon found his passion was in real estate.

While Danie had enjoyed working at her gym, she found herself at home more often with a young family. Trying to fill in the gaps, she took on the office management side of the storage business. Together, Danie and Dillon worked to create a seamless move in process where tenants can use the website to choose their preferred unit size, sign their rental agreement, receive their access code and move in to the unit at their convenience.

“This was the first time Dillon and I had worked together, and we found that our skillsets are really compatible because we have opposite strengths,” Danie said.

BIRTH OF LEGACY VENTURES

Last summer, Dillon and Danie founded a business called Legacy Ventures, LLC, which will focus on property management. Their first purchase through Legacy Ventures was the former Winn Corp building at 2803 West Grimes. Douds Stone purchased Winn Corp in January, but Danie and Dillon had been interested in purchasing property at that site even before that sale.

Dillon noted that, because of a surveying error years ago, a tiny portion of their storage units crept over the property line onto the lot formerly leased by Winn Corp. When Dillon approached the owner about buying that sliver of land, the owner suggested that Dillon and Danie purchase the property. They weren’t sure what they would do with that much space, though. Danie said they looked into putting in climate-controlled storage, but they didn’t feel it would be profitable.

At the time, the large warehouse at Select Self Storage sat unused. It had been recently rebuilt after storm damage. Instead of renting it out, they decided to focus on growing their other businesses – Fry Dirtworks & Conservation and Fry Construction, Co – using the warehouse as their main hub.

CONTEMPLATING A MOVE

With the inefficiency of working on opposite sides of town paired with Impact Fitness outgrowing their location, the need for a new space was clear. “We knew that this was the last winter we could be in that building without having turnover in clients,” Danie said referring to the loss of clients due to the large volume in a small space.

Dillon said that, once he and Danie realized how well they worked together at Select, they agreed to partner on a new building for the gym.

“For the last two years, we’ve been looking for a location for a brand-new building,” Dillon shared. “We thought about developing a raw piece of ground, but that never worked out.”

Danie said she and Brady weren’t sure about moving their gym to West Grimes because they felt the area was too industrial, but their attitude changed once they saw what they could do with a bigger building.

“It grew on us,” Danie said.

“It’s really the perfect building for a gym,” Dillon said.

SPACE GALORE

Danie said Impact Fitness will occupy the back portion of the building, 12,000 square feet, with room left over for outdoor exercises.

“Right now, we have a little grassy field for summer speed and agility conditioning,” Danie said. “Our athletes, like football or baseball players, will be training outside so they can prepare on a surface similar to their sport.”

Impact Fitness’s new location will have a lot more space for indoor turf, about 4,500 square feet dedicated to it.

“That will improve our ability to train speed and agility year-round,” Danie said.

Danie and Dillon haven’t decided how many offices there will be, because it depends on what their tenants are looking for. One client has secured a 1,300-square-foot office space, but the remaining 8,600 square feet is up for grabs. Their brother Colton, who runs Fry Electric, will occupy about 4,000 square feet of space.

EXTERIOR CHANGES

The former Winn Corp building is painted yellow with an office on the south side painted brown. Danie said that brown addition, and the semi loading docks, will be removed to allow for more parking.

“We’re going to keep the industrial feel, but add some wood soffit, stone planters and some nicer landscaping,” Danie said.

The building will get a makeover with new siding, windows and doors.

“It will basically be a new building when we’re done,” Dillon said.

Once the Fry siblings finish this current project at 2803 West Grimes, they’ve got more projects planned next door, including boat and RV storage as well as more storage units

LEAVING A LEGACY

Danie is the oldest of the four Fry children and Dillon is the youngest, though they’re only five years apart. Nevertheless, Danie said it didn’t feel that the two current business partners did that much together during their childhood because of the age gap and their differing interests.

“It’s fun in this season of life to get to work together,” Danie said.

“We get to see each other’s kids grow up way more than we would have,” Dillon added. “They get to see what it takes to be an entrepreneur.”

Danie concluded, “We’re in this for the long haul, and we want to pass something onto our kids, a legacy they can be proud of.”