Evan Vitale Consulting: Bootcamp business to reopen – but in shopping center, not home's garage

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Bootcamp business to reopen – but in shopping center, not home's garage – MLive.com

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Just over three weeks after a judge ordered a home bootcamp-style fitness business to immediately cease operating in a residential zone, its owner is preparing for a grand opening on Sunday in a Michigan Avenue strip mall.

A Washtenaw County Circuit judge ordered Hungry Hustla, operating out of a house at 1106 Juneau Road in the Gault Village subdivision, to shut down on Sept. 25.

The township filed a lawsuit against its owner, Nate Griffin, after he refused to move Hungry Hustla from the subdivision to a commercial zone. Neighbors complained about the business for over a year in the lead up to legal action.

But Griffin was optimistic about his new 1,400-square-foot gym in the Michigan Center Plaza at 1828 E. Michigan Ave., and he has taken after a more conciliatory tone after charging race was behind his neighbors’ complaints.

“The whole situation was a blessing in disguise,” he said. “I was comfortable … I didn’t want to move out of the garage. But I was becoming a nuisance. I respect that. I’m accountable for what I did and didn’t do, and at the end of the day, it got me to where I am right now.”

Griffin said he had no idea how much his business will grow but he’s excited about Hungry Hustla’s prospects now that he doesn’t have time and space limitations.

“I can be free,” he said. “Ne restrictions, no noise restrictions, and I’ve got good neighbors. They’re all in aggreeance with what’s going on. It’s just freedom.”

Complaints from neighbors first put Hungry Hustla on the township’s radar. Over the summer, Griffin worked out with up to 20 people per day, and neighbors regularly called the police about the noise, parking issues and Griffin’s “teammates” working out in the streets or sidewalks.

Per township ordinance, a home business can’t have more than 20 visitors per week, and planning coordinator Joe Lawson noted Griffin cleared that in a day. The ordinance also grants one on-street parking space to a home business’s customers, and all other visitors must park in the driveway. The township alleged Griffin’s customers’ cars lined the streets during his sessions.

Mike Radzik, the township’s director of the office of community standards, said officials informally asked Griffin several times to move the business before issuing a notice of violation. When Griffin made clear his intention to continue operating, the township filed a lawsuit.

But Griffin said that’s in the past, and he spent the week putting the final touches on Hungry Hustla’s new space. He declined to say how much he’s investing to renovate the new gym, but he said “It’s definitely not free.”

“The dollars will take care of itself when you’re doing a good thing,” he added. “At the end of the day, I was running a business. It might have been positive, but it was a business, and you’re not supposed to run a business out of your home.

“But I got great teammates, great community support and now we’re going to see what we can do.”

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