When Jeremy Colon and Kathy Le started Revamp Training studio in the St. Mark’s area in 2020, they were grateful for their 600-square-foot gym. But gradually they have outgrown the space and routinely found it hard to get people – whether landlords or financiers –to take their expansion plans seriously.

That all changed this week for Revamp and six other Dorchester and Mattapan business owners when they received one of the city’s highly sought-after Supporting Pandemic Affected Community Enterprises (SPACE) grants.

With $100,000 now in his pocket, Colon’s and Le’s business is headed one block up Dorchester Avenue to a space more than four times the size of his original site.

“It was such an amazing moment when I realized that the dream I’ve had since I was 14 or 15 years old was actually going to happen,” Colon said this week in his current studio at 1692 Dorchester Ave. “I can really build this business and make an impact and help people and create jobs. I’m just the small guy in the corner that they don’t respect, but now I’ll have the resources to where people can take what I offer very seriously. It’s not everything, but a great steppingstone to make it happen.”

Mayor Wu announced the establishment of the SPACE grant last year, and applications were due this past February. This week, she announced the names of 24 grant winners, with a maximum funding of $200,000 on the table. The total amount of money given out, which came from federal pandemic funds, totaled $2.83 million.

Colon and Le knew they needed a bigger space last September, but they ran into barriers with realtors and landlords who weren’t interested in their vision. The grant has overcome those blocks, and when their current lease runs out in August, they will locate one block south, next to the Eye Works optical shop, in a 2,500-square-foot space at 1678 Dorchester Ave.

“Boston has a lot of gatekeeping,” he said. “A lot of owners are exclusive and want to only make the big deals…We’re proving to these folks that we can build a successful business and maybe that guy you won’t take a chance on will go ahead and build a large and successful business anyway.”

Colon, who has lived in Dorchester since he was 11, didn’t want to travel to the suburbs or other communities for personal training jobs; he and Le wanted to offer their services to professionals in the St. Mark’s area. According to Colon, he has are amazing clients with whom and they’ve built close relationships over the past three years.

Dorchester’s Jeremy Colon in front of his Revamp Training studio in the St. Marks area of Dorchester Avenue, where he and partner Kathy Le have operated for three years. The grant they received from the city has allowed them to move to a much-larger space a block away. Seth Daniel photo

His profession is also personal for him. He said he was overweight and bullied as a kid in Dorchester, and he got involved with sports and fitness at Boston Latin Academy. He continued his fitness quest while at Lesley University, but he didn’t fully grasp the benefits of being healthy until 2021, when he donated a kidney to his father.

“When you give an organ, you have to be very healthy and I decided to push myself to give my dad the best, most healthy, kidney possible so it wouldn’t be rejected,” he said. “I was really pushing my body and seeing the fruits of being able to go beyond what I thought were my limits. Now I’m taking those same principles and applying them to people who are stuck, complacent, or feel they can’t do more. My dad had a successful kidney transplant, and is living his best life now, and that’s really what led me here to dig deeper with others.”

Another winner of a SPACE grant is Codman Square’s Teresa Maynard, the owner of the successful Sweet Teez Bakery, which has operated out of the Commonwealth Kitchen shared space for seven years. She said she has been looking for a brick-and-mortar space to run her bakery and expand it into a coffee shop, but with no luck. Like Revamp, many landlords didn’t want to take a chance on her, or only rented to chain stores.

“I’ve been looking for a space in Dorchester because I’m a Dorchester girl,” she said. “I grew up in the neighborhood on Washington Street and raised my kids in the neighborhood…I’ve had other places like the BID (Business Improvement District) downtown reach out to me. But I’m betting on Dorchester. Other people may not, but I am.”

Her grant totaled $200,000 and it has given her the leverage to look for a place with financial backing, she said. It is the final piece she has needed to make a big jump. “It’s been seven years of me doing this business and now I feel I have all the pieces in place to build what I asked God for in the beginning,” she said. “It means I have a solid foundation and…I’m going into that situation already knowing how to run my business.”

She has been in discussions for space at the new Dot Block development between Fields Corner and Savin Hill, but she is also intrigued by the former Citizens Bank branch in Codman Square, just blocks from her home. If either of those becomes a reality, it will mean a place where people can come to buy a pie at a counter.

“I’ve been operating so long like a nomad,” she said. “During the holidays I feel like a thief because I’m selling pies for cash out of the front door of Commonwealth Kitchen,” she added with a laugh.

Those days will be over once she can secure her Dorchester space, she said.

Other grant winners from the neighborhood include:
•Brown Bear Excel Learning Center ($200,000). Owner Dawne Brown will operate her first storefront daycare facility in Mattapan’s new The Loop development.

•Dorchester Community Food Co-Op, Bowdoin Street ($50,000).

•Reign Drink Lab, Fields Corner ($50,000). Through the SPACE grant, Reign hopes to expand and open a second location in South Boston or another part of Dorchester.

•Problakart, LLC, ($200,000). The famous and accomplished muralist Rob Gibbs, the co-founder of Artist for Humanity who works out of Mattapan, is looking to locate a community art space on Blue Hill Avenue. The effort would create studio space, retail space and gallery space that would act as a platform for local artists.

•The Local Hand, Ashmont ($150,000). Dorchester’s Michaela Flatley has operated a retail gift store and local art gallery since May and will use the grant to help with the build out and the rent in the coming months. The storefront had been vacant.