Fitness Center Feasibility Study in Indiana

Indiana gyms rank high inside the state

Inside Indiana, fitness centers rank 4 of 39 SBA classes by loan count, which makes gyms one of the state's leading uses of SBA credit. The record holds 273 loans for $108.6 million from FY2017 to FY2026, Indiana places 18 of 54 nationally for gyms, and its location quotient of 1.08x leaves the class a little over its national weight. The Indiana median of $250,000 is 0.96x the fitness median nationwide, and the middle half of gym loans sits between $75,000 and $425,400. Nothing here is marked as a standout metric, which leaves this page about scale and brand share rather than a different kind of loan.

Franchise share and the Hamilton County cluster

Franchised gyms hold 47.3% of loans. SBA 7(a) carries 248 loans and SBA 504 25, with Regional Development Company holding 8 of the 504 loans for $5.5 million and Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corporation 7 for $9.0 million. Under 7(a), the largest holder is The Huntington National Bank with 42 loans for $11.8 million, and KeyBank National Association is next with 14 for $7.3 million. A lender with a numeral at the start of its name ranks third on 13 loans for $2.3 million, ahead of Old National Bank with 12 for $4.1 million and Peoples Bank with 12 for $1.4 million. Each is the lender now holding the loans as SBA reports them. Hamilton County has 66 loans, well ahead of Marion with 36, Lake with 25, Allen with 14 and Hendricks with 11.

Losses, cancellations and timing

The FY2017 to FY2021 funded group of 126 Indiana gym loans shows 7.1% charged off to date and 4.0% inside five years. Indiana's cancellation floor is 11.8% for FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, or 13.5% with undisbursed loans counted. These are minimums, and open loans may still be charged off. Volume held up through FY2023, with 32 loans and $16.0 million in FY2018 and 35 and $14.7 million in FY2023, before falling to 14 and $6.1 million in FY2026, a complete fiscal year.

What an Indiana fitness study must test

With so much lending concentrated in Hamilton County, saturation is the first question for a new Indiana gym. A feasibility study has to map existing clubs and studios, branded and independent, against households and incomes in the trade area, and test the membership a new site can win rather than the brand's system average. Cost covers the lease or building, build-out, and equipment, which can be a large share of a small gym loan. Debt service coverage should rest on membership at a conservative ramp and on attrition, and the appraisal, where property is financed, must look at the building's use beyond a gym, since special-purpose space is harder to value.