Aaron Hsu, 14 of Mountain View High School, right, practices catching a baseball at Advanced Skills Baseball in Vancouver on Monday. The business has opened its doors in the former Oxford Athletic Club. (Natalie Behring for The Columbian)Photo Gallery
A Vancouver institution of more than 50 years is enjoying a new life as a facility where, once again, young athletes are going to train.
The Oxford Athletic Club at 7588 Delaware Lane closed its doors in 2010, marking the end of 50 years of family ownership. The building changed hands at least once and temporarily remained a swim club, but it didn’t last.
Most recently, the building was purchased by Turman Commercial Painters, a national painting company. Since the owner, Dave Theobald, bought the building about two years ago, he has made it his mission to revitalize the space to host athletic facilities.
“When we acquired that building, it seems like there was a great opportunity to do something that would bring the building back to life,” Theobald said from his California-based office. He has relocated to Vancouver. “It was kind of a fixture in the community.”
Theobald’s company, under the name Oregon Commercial Painters, has a few offices and warehouse spaces in the building, but the rest is taken up by a mixed martial arts studio, Fisticuffs; an indoor baseball practice facility, Advanced Skills Baseball; and a conditioning gym, Gilday Sport Conditioning.
Oregon Commercial Painting crews covered an outside wall with a mural of baseball players. The old swimming pool has been filled with concrete, providing a smooth floor for players to practice. A wall of mirrors lines a wall in a room destined to become either a dance studio or an aerobics room in the future.
“My heart is always toward the communities we do work in,” Theobald said. “If we can do anything to help the local communities, we typically try.”
At Advanced Skills Baseball, owner Dave Mills wanders as he watches high school players practice pitching with local umpires.
Mills looked for a place for four years before finding space to rent in Theobald’s building in October. He was close to abandoning his dream of opening a baseball training center for young players when he discovered the spot.
The memories of the building still pervade the space, with parents of the teenagers that he teaches often recalling their days at the pool.
“If I had a dollar for everyone who told me they learned to swim in here, I could just sit here,” he said.
Mills said he’s paying a fraction of fair market rent — though he declined to say how much he was paying — for the space. That’s a testament to Theobald’s passion for the space, Mills said.
“It’s only because of what we’re allowed to do there and how it’s set up” that the business can exist, Mills said. “It’s a nightmarish jungle out there if you’re looking for commercial space.”
Cory Gilday, who owns the conditioning gym, said students receive some unique benefits from having a variety of sports facilities under one roof. He often works with Mills’ students, creating a positive relationship between the businesses as well as for the students.
“It’s nice to give this level of training to these kids,” he said.
Alex Hsu’s 14-year-old son, Aaron, a freshman at Mountain View High School, takes classes at Advanced Baseball Skills. Hsu hopes the classes will give his son an advantage as baseball season begins on campus.
Aaron also took swim lessons as a child at Oxford Athletic Club when it was still operating, Hsu said, noting that he’d been surprised to see the pool filled and converted to a baseball training gym.
