A bicycling nonprofit is pedaling back to where it began, with plans to purchase a building of its own for the first time in its 41-year history.
STL BWorks, which offers free youth classes in bicycles and computers, announced this morning that it plans to close on the former Compton Heights Christian Church building at 2149 South Grand Boulevard. That will kickstart a process of moving from its rented home of the past 15 years in Soulard to the larger building in Shaw.
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And that’s a full circle moment for BWorks, which Shaw resident Roy Bohn started in his backyard in 1985 and incorporated as a nonprofit three years later.
“It’s been a fantastic 15 years here in Soulard, and we are also outgrowing the space and also ready to own our own space,” Patrick Van Der Tuin, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement. “In addition to our classroom needs for our growing Earn-A-Bike, Learn-To-Ride and Earn-A-Computer programs, our operation requires unique and significant space for everything from mechanical shops where our teams refurbish all of the donated bikes and computers to storage to retail and offices. It’s a kind of mini-ecosystem, in a way, and it’s also a lot. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have found the right place for BWorks’ next chapter.”
The congregation of Compton Heights Christian Church made the decision to move on from their longtime home after a food pantry that was leasing space there, Isaiah 58 Ministries, made the decision to move to a bigger location closer to the people it served. “With Isaiah 58 planning to relocate, we felt that there are better uses of our energy, money, and talents than maintaining a building that would only be used one day a week,” the church explains on its website. “In July 2024, we made the decision to put our building up for sale and relocate.” The congregation, part of the Disciples of Christ denomination, is now renting space in the former Holy Family Catholic Church in Tower Grove South.
BWorks said it will be doing some renovations to the church building but hopes to move in by fall and be fully moved in by spring, with no interruption to operations or its popular retail store for used bikes. BWorks said that Isaiah 58 Ministries will be “free to continue operating in the space at no cost through the end of the year as part of the sale.”
In addition to its free youth bicycle classes, some of which culminate in graduates earning a bicycle of their own, BWorks offers classes where kids can learn how to use, and then earn, a computer.
The nonprofit says that 683 students graduated from its courses during 2025, a double-digit increase from the prior year. The six-week Earn-A-Bike program saw 455 children and teenage graduates in 2025, while 74 more kids completed the four-week Learn-to-Ride program and 154 graduated from the six-week Earn-A-Computer program.
“Nothing really beats seeing the smiles on hundreds of kids’ faces every year when it’s their group’s graduation day, as we like to call it,” Van Der Tuin said. “Time and again they are so proud of themselves, so appreciative of all of our teachers and mechanics who have invested in them, and so thrilled to take home a wonderful bike or computer of their very own choosing that they now know how to use safely and creatively.”
BWorks has also been busy organizing people-powered “bike buses” to help kids safely ride to school, including ones at Citygarden Montessori.
