Fitness Center Feasibility Study in the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area

Charleston fitness: third locally

Fitness centers rank third locally in Charleston-North Charleston, 3 of 39, and the metro stands 54 of 608 nationally, with a location quotient of 1.67x. The 44 loans and $25.7 million approved from FY2017 to FY2026 come with franchise flags on 54.5%, so gym brands drive just over half of the lending. Ticket size centres on $283,200. Against the national class median that is 1.09x, and the span from $154,500 to $542,750 holds the heart of the book.

A breakdown into 7(a) and 504 loans is suppressed for Charleston fitness and so is absent here. Eight 7(a) loans each, for $2.1 million and $2.0 million respectively, sit with The Huntington National Bank and Wells Fargo Bank National Association. Reading a holder entry as a measure of quality would be a mistake: it records who holds the loan, nothing more. Charleston County, SC has 31 loans, Berkeley County, SC 7 and Dorchester County, SC 6, so the tri-county core supplies nearly the whole of the named record and a site in any of the three can be compared with local peers.

Floors and years

Loss data for Charleston fitness are blank, both cancellation and charge-offs, by SBA's thin-cohort rule; blank cells are not zeros. Printed years: FY2017 (7 loans, $2.1 million), FY2019 (6, $1.6 million), FY2023 (5, $4.9 million), FY2025 (6, $9.9 million) and FY2026 (6, $2.4 million). A gap in FY2020 reflects withheld data, not a closed gym market. FY2025 stands out for its dollars. The remaining years are held back.

Placement rests on the county of the project, tested against the July 2023 delineation; a mismatch means the loan is excluded from Charleston-North Charleston.

What a Charleston fitness study must test

Membership demand is the first test, and it depends on households and incomes within reach, the density of competing gyms and boutique studios, and the retention curve for new members. Equipment and build-out must be costed against the $283,200 midpoint, and membership dues must cover the debt, franchise fees counted where a brand applies. The appraiser prices the gym as a going business and takes its lease into account. Daniel Smith, MAI, is the signatory on the Loan Analytics report, which informs a credit decision without making it.