ON A SPRING afternoon nearly two years ago, Jack “the Bike Man” Hairston led a reporter on a video tour of the 21,000-square-foot warehouse that was supposed to be the future home of the nonprofit charity bearing his name.
The popular bike charity purchased the former Cheney Brothers warehouse at 426 Claremore Dr. in West Palm Beach for $2 million in February 2021. Of that amount, $1.5 million was gifted from the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation. Jack The Bike Man kicked in $100,000 and financed $400,000 with a mortgage.
As you can see in the video above, shot in April 2023, Hairston had high hopes to renovate the historic building and turn it into a community asset anchored by the bike charity.
Three months later, he died.
In January 2024, after failing to raise $5 million needed for the renovations, the charity's board of directors decided to put the warehouse up for sale and use the proceeds to find a new home.
The warehouse was still on the market when a fire broke out in the early morning hours of Feb. 19, 2025, gutting the building.
The bike shop’s temporary location immediately east of the warehouse was not damaged, according to media reports.
Charity leaders are vowing to keep the bike shop open.
Nearly two months ago, thieves broke into the bike shop some time over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and stole at least one bike and nearly $700 from the cash box. A secret Santa contributed $500 to the charity after hearing about the break-in.
© 2025 ByJoeCapozzi.com All rights reserved.
Please help support local journalism by clicking the donation button in the masthead on our homepage.
About the author
Joe Capozzi is an award-winning reporter based in Lake Worth Beach. He spent more than 30 years writing for newspapers, mostly at The Palm Beach Post, where he wrote about the opioid scourge, invasive pythons, the birth of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and Palm Beach County government. For 15 years, he covered the Miami Marlins baseball team. Joe left The Post in December 2020. View all posts by Joe Capozzi.