Vertical Endeavors-Warrenville closed its doors on Thursday, Jan. 29 due to a terminated lease with Lifetime Fitness. Lifetime Fitness will now take over the 18,000 square foot space.

Despite the new management, PE instructional coordinator John Fiore said that PE 1, PE 2, Adaptive PE and Leadership through Team Building classes will continue to rock climb at the facility. Fiore said the PE department has been discussing the new gym curriculum with Lifetime Fitness.

“The discussion was pretty positive, and we will still be able to use the new facility with the same costs as before,” Fiore said. “We should be able to bus students to the climbing walls in two weeks.”

The facility had a 15-year lease with Lifetime Fitness, but it was terminated one year early. The rock-climbing facility had been serving individual climbers, birthday parties and schools for the past decade. According to Fiore, Vertical Endeavors also trained NNHS gym teachers to become climbing instructors.

“We’re sad to see Vertical Endeavors go,” Fiore said. “We have had such a great relationship with them, and the employees have always been so flexible with our classes.”

According to Fiore, rock climbing is important for these classes because it challenges students both physically and mentally.

The Business Journal said the reason for the change involved a dispute between the two companies regarding financing and climber entrances. Fiore said that Lifetime Fitness-Warrenville wanted to operate the space themselves.

“Since many other Lifetime Fitness locations across the country have climbing walls, I guess this location wanted to expand to the facility as well,” Fiore said.

Vertical Endeavors recently opened a new location in Glendale Heights. According to the company’s website, the new facility is 45,000 square feet, making it the largest climbing wall in the nation.