DETROIT — With an eye on a brighter future, Kronk Gym is turning to its decorated past.

A new ownership group for the boxing outfit announced plans Wednesday to move Kronk into the historic Brewster-Wheeler Recreation Center on the city's east side. The new Kronk Gym is scheduled to open in August or September of this year, bringing it back into the city, after a temporary run in Westland. The move also brings Kronk to Brewster, where the late, great trainer, Emanuel Steward, spent many days in his youth.

Steward went on to Kronk in the early 1970s, bringing the gym to national prominence for his work with championship fighters, amateur and professional, most notably Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns.

"We are here to celebrate the rebirth of one of Detroit's greatest legends, the Kronk Gym," Detroit mayor Mike Duggan said Wednesday at the official announcement, in front of a crowd of more 100, including established fighters. "In Detroit, we've gotten used to things we care about being taken away from us.

"We're building a city where we honor our history and we keep it alive."

The Brewster-Wheeler Recreation Center, on Wilkins Street near I-75 and Mack Avenue, opened in 1929 and was a training ground for Detroit's most-legendary boxer, Joe Louis. It hosted other fighters over the years, including Mike Tyson. The center closed in 2006, and in 2014, early in Duggan's administration, was nearly razed.

That was until Duggan got a call from Louis' son, Joe II, and pleaded for the mayor to reconsider. The next day, new City Council member Mary Sheffield, representing the 5th District on the east side, stopped by Duggan's office and made the same case.

The demolition was halted, and a variety of plans were considered over the years. But nothing stuck, until group of prospective owners for a new Kronk Gym started getting serious about their plans in 2024. A deal was struck in March.

"These walls echo greatness," said Sheffield, now president of Detroit's City Council. "I'm excited that the next generation will write its own chapter right here.

"Our history is not something to be erased, but something to be restored and reimagined."

The new ownership group includes Paul Bhatti, CEO of Kronk, who said after Wednesday's announcement that he hopes the center impacts the lives of thousands of children's lives, particularly in the Black community. When the YMCA didn't allow Blacks in the early 20th century, they came to the Brewster-Wheeler Recreation Center.

Also part of the new Kronk Gym ownership group: John Lepak, COO; Amer Abdallah, vice president of international business; Mikey Shumaker, director of VIP relations; and Hilmer Kenty, Kronk Gym's first world champion. Steward's wife, Marie Steward, and daughter, Sylvia Steward-Williams, also are part of the new Kronk Gym venture, and they attended Wednesday's announcement. Also attending Wednesday's announcement was Detroit police chief Todd Bettison, who hailed the new Kronk Gym as a safe space for Detroit youth.

When Emanuel Steward, known as the "godfather of Detroit boxing," died in 2012 at the age of 68, after the original Kronk Gym had closed, Marie said to Sylvia, "We've gotta get a gym" — to help preserve Emanuel Steward's legacy, but also to help others build their own.

"(Kronk) is where my father spent his lifetime developing world champions," Steward-Williams said. "I am thrilled that the new owners will be bringing back Kronk to the youth of Detroit."

She added, of her father: "He would be incredibly proud of our efforts."

Bhatti, Kronk Gym CEO, called Wednesday's announcement "emotional, a pinch-yourself moment," and said having the Steward family on board "means the world."

The original Kronk, at 5555 McGraw Ave., opened in the 1920s as a community rec center but rose to fame as a maker of champion boxers starting in the 1970s, with the arrival of Steward. It became internationally known. Kronk Gym's history boasts 41 world champions, and even more amateur champions.

Hearns became the face of Kronk after arriving in the late 1970s; he went on to win major championships in five weight classes. Kronk's roster of champions also includes the likes of Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko. Kronk became unofficially referred to as "Detroit's fifth franchise."

The original Kronk Gym closed in 2006 and was razed in 2018 after fires and flood left it unsalvageable. Kronk Gym moved multiple locations, including Detroit, Dearborn and Westland.

"Kronk is committed to bringing back amateur and professional world championships to this great sports city," said Lepak, part of the ownership group and an original member of Kronk Gym. "We're very dedicated."

The new Kronk Gym, at Brewster-Wheeler, will feature a 3,500-square-foot training facility, where the walls were in the early stages of construction Wednesday (and where the old basement gym, where Louis once trained, still remains).

The facility will be for boxers of all ages and levels, and trainers will work with amateurs and professionals.

Among those fighters is Will Myhre, 19, a freshman at Oakland University who just signed a pro contract with Kronk. He's been training at Kronk gyms since he was 8 and couldn't help but be struck by the history of Brewster-Wheeler on Wednesday.

"It means everything, just to see the new gym, the walls being built, you know?" said Myhre, wearing a black Kronk T-shirt. "I'm at a loss for words. I'm glad it's back in the city.

"I just can't wait until everything's finished. It's going to be amazing."

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