Fitness Center Feasibility Study in New Hampshire

New Hampshire gyms: a top class with a small ticket

Gyms matter in New Hampshire's SBA book. The class ranks 4 of 39 among New Hampshire classes by count, even though the state itself places only 33 of 54 for fitness lending and the location quotient is 0.90x. The loan size stands out: the New Hampshire median is $190,000, just 0.73x the fitness median nationwide, and that figure sits apart from both the state's lending across every class and fitness nationally. Over FY2017 to FY2026, 101 approvals carried $33.7 million, and the central half of them ranged from $50,000 to $383,600. New Hampshire gym owners, in other words, borrow often and borrow light.

A brand stands behind 37.6% of the loans. SBA 7(a) carries 87 and SBA 504 carries 14, and Granite State Economic Development Corporation holds 9 of those 504 loans for $4.7 million. TD Bank, National Association's 13 gym loans under 7(a) lead by count yet total only $946,200; Newtek Small Business Finance, LLC holds 6 for $2.1 million, Kennebunk Savings Bank 6 for $843,000, Primary Bank 5 for $2.5 million and Bangor Savings Bank 5 for $1.3 million. Hillsborough County with 36 loans and Rockingham with 35 account for the bulk of the map, with Merrimack at 10, Belknap at 6 and Strafford at 5.

Thin cohort, light losses

The charge-off reading comes from 33 funded loans, a cohort barely large enough to publish, so treat it with care. Among those New Hampshire gyms funded in FY2017 to FY2021, 3.0% have since been written off, and 0.00% failed inside the first five years; whatever losses exist came later. Cancellation is the wider range: a floor of 9.6% of FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, rising to 13.3% if New Hampshire approvals still awaiting their money are added. The yearly line swings hard, from 2 loans and $337,500 in FY2020 to 20 loans and $7.8 million in FY2022, then 5 loans and $1.5 million in FY2026.

What a New Hampshire gym study has to test

A small loan for a gym still has to rest on a membership forecast that holds. The study should count the clubs, studios and franchised gyms already competing for the same households in Hillsborough or Rockingham, and test whether the trade area can support another at the price point planned. Cost testing covers the lease, the fit-out and the equipment package that a loan near $190,000 typically buys. Debt service coverage has to survive attrition and the slow months, and the forecast should show when the gym reaches the membership count that covers the payment. If a building is financed, its appraisal should consider uses beyond fitness, since a gym box can be hard to re-let.