Fitness Center Feasibility Study in the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metro Area

Cincinnati: a record shaped by one name

More than half the gym loans in Cincinnati's SBA record sit with a single holder. The Huntington National Bank is listed with 52 of the area's 115 fitness center loans, worth $12.0 million, while Eclipse Bank Inc follows with 5 loans worth $3.8 million and no one else reaches the threshold for being named. That says how SBA's files attribute the paper; it does not say what any lender requires, and an applicant should not expect a different answer from a different institution on the basis of this page.

The numbers around the lender

Total approvals for FY2017 to FY2026 come to $37.5 million. The area ranks 28 of 608 for the class and third of 39 within the area, at a location quotient of 1.03x, nearly the national share. The median of $240,600 is 0.93x the national class midpoint and loans between the quartiles run $50,000 to $448,150, so the lower end is very small. By program the 115 loans are 108 on 7(a) and 7 on 504; 48.7% are franchised.

Three states in one area

Hamilton County, Ohio has 50 loans and Butler 33, Clermont and Warren 9 each, and Kenton County, Kentucky 7. The area also takes in Indiana counties, so tax, licensing and employment rules change with the site. Yearly counts are steady and rarely dramatic: 6 loans in FY2017 against 15 in FY2021, and a dollar peak of $7.1 million on 12 loans in FY2026.

A modest cancellation floor

At least 8.7% of approvals in FY2017 to FY2024 were cancelled, a modest floor but still only a floor. The ceiling for cancellations and the charge-off rate are suppressed on thin counts. A loan is placed in the area only if its project county's name is on the 2023 metro map. A study for a Cincinnati-area club should test the number of households in the drive-time ring, competition from big-box gyms and boutique studios, rent and tenant allowances, what a franchisor has disclosed, should a brand be involved, equipment cost against the range of loans, and what dues must be collected to cover debt service.