One stop for wellness
Meredith Calhoun, a veteran commercial real estate professional, and Becca Impello, a physical therapist and yoga teacher, recently opened a new health and wellness facility in Birmingham called Practice Works.
Calhoun is excited about Practice Works — a coworking facility for health and wellness practitioners located near Avondale and Forest Park — because “the wellness industry is booming,” she said.
“Personal awareness is growing, and people are taking their well-being much more seriously,” she said.
The coworking aspect also represents a strong business opportunity for the partners. “Coworking is a natural progression from the general inflexibility inherent in commercial real estate leasing,” Calhoun said.
Coworking offers “more flexibility for the ways in which people work,” Impello said. “People are crafting their own unique way of working in terms of hours, setting and ways of being productive.”
Their vision for Practice Works extends beyond just market opportunities. “We believe a coordinated and holistic approach to health is crucial to well-being,” according to their website.
They call Practice Works “a new concept that will blend traditional classes and services, coworking and rich community in one space.”
Practice Works, located at 3613 Sixth Ave. S., opened April 1 and is initially providing a home for about 10 wellness practitioners, with an eventual capacity of about 30, according to Calhoun. The facility, which measures about 7,000 square feet, features classrooms, conference rooms, private treatment rooms, event spaces, indoor and outdoor common areas and lots of natural light.
The new venture fills “a need for health and wellness professionals to have more flexibility and support in their work settings while bringing magnified resources and a broader community to their clients as well as themselves,” Impello said.
The partners offer group classes, private sessions, social events and workshops featuring leading teachers and wellness thought leaders from around America.
Calhoun grew up in Forest Park and earned a bachelor’s in psychology at the University of Georgia. She worked in human resources for 10 years, then entered commercial real estate and worked at Corporate Realty for 13 years. She will oversee the business side at Practice Works.
A Birmingham native, Impello earned a degree in biology at Duke and trained to be a physical therapist at UAB. She’s been a physical therapist and yoga teacher in Birmingham since 2000. Since 2010, Impello has developed and taught therapeutic yoga workshops and continuing education for healthcare professionals. She is one of the few certified yoga therapists in Alabama. She is also co-owner and lead trainer of a yoga teacher training program called Here Now Yoga.
At Practice Works, Impello will direct the wellness classes and workshops and the professional continuing education. She will continue her private yoga therapy practice and facilitate the facility’s collaboration with the medical community.
The partners met in 2017 when Impello was looking for new rental space and Calhoun was getting ready to leave her job to become an entrepreneur in the wellness field.
“I needed a new business partner for the big ideas I had, and we quickly realized that our visions lined up perfectly and that with our combined experience and resources we could make a great team,” Impello said.
The coworking aspect of Practice Works is critical, according to the founders. Typically in commercial real estate, tenants must sign long-term leases that allow the landlords to recoup the sizeable investments they’ve made in their rental properties, according to Calhoun.
It’s often unwise for a small business with only a few employees to risk signing a three-year lease early in the life of the enterprise, she said. However, that small business still needs an “efficient, functional” office space, Calhoun said.
The boom in wellness is also creating a greater demand for the “one-on-one practitioner,” including therapists and coaches, Calhoun said, who are “particularly affected by the inflexibility of commercial real estate offerings.”
“Practice Works is the only solution in Alabama which is designed specifically to address their office needs,” Calhoun said.
The partners in Practice Works are “thrilled” to be in the Avondale and Forest Park area, according to Calhoun.
“There’s a ton of activity on the real estate front in this area, so we feel it’s a great investment,” she said.
The location is very accessible and has plenty of parking, according to Calhoun. Their renovated building was built as a credit union in the 1970s and was formerly occupied by Pack Health.
PRACTICE WORKS
WHERE: 3613 Sixth Ave. S.
HOURS: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.to 6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, subject to event and class schedule.
CALL: 506-6100
WEB: practice-works.com