Fitness Center Feasibility Study in Missouri

Gyms near the top of Missouri's SBA book

Missouri leans on fitness lending more than most states. Fitness centers rank 3 of 39 among Missouri asset classes, and a location quotient of 1.27x means gyms hold a clearly bigger slice of Missouri SBA approvals than of the nation's. There were 260 Missouri approvals from FY2017 to FY2026, worth $98.9 million, ranking 19 of 54 among states. The median of $225,350 is 0.87x the class median nationwide. That weight is the story; the typical loan size and the outcome floors stay close enough to Missouri's all-class record or to fitness centers nationally that our screen does not mark them as distinct.

Franchise studios and community banks

Franchise brands account for 41.5% of Missouri gym loans, and the middle half of Missouri gym approvals lands between $104,500 and $450,500. SBA 7(a) carried 244 loans and SBA 504 just 16, with Rural Missouri, Inc. the leading development company at 11 loans worth $8.3 million. OakStar Bank leads 7(a) with 20 loans worth $8.4 million; U.S. Bank, National Association has 17 worth $3.3 million, The Central Trust Bank 14, The Bank of Missouri 13 and The Huntington National Bank 10. Saint Louis County leads with 52 approvals, Jackson has 39, Saint Charles 27, Greene 25, Clay 19 and Boone 18. Missouri volume has been steady, between 21 and 35 loans a year, with FY2026 the largest by dollars at $13.3 million.

Losses that come after year five

Cancellation took at least 9.2% of Missouri gym approvals made in FY2017 to FY2024, 10.2% at the ceiling. Among the 112 Missouri loans funded in FY2017 to FY2021, 2.7% are charged off to date but just 0.89% within five years of approval, putting the bulk of Missouri's recorded loss after year five. Each figure is a floor.

For a Missouri gym, the feasibility study has to prove membership demand in the specific trade area against the franchise studios and clubs already there, and set pricing, churn and staffing against a loan near $225,350. A franchised unit should be tested on local membership and the brand's full fee load, not on the system average. Because the Missouri losses arrived after the fifth year, the study should also carry debt service coverage through equipment replacement and lease renewal, and where a Missouri building is part of the loan, the appraiser must value it apart from the gym's business.

No coding limitation is recorded for fitness centers; the Missouri counts follow each loan's industry code as SBA holds it.