Fitness Center Feasibility Study in Oregon

Oregon gyms: under-weight, but a busy class at home

Oregon lends less to fitness centers than the national pattern would suggest, and yet gyms are still one of its busier SBA classes. The location quotient is 0.72x, Oregon stands 26 of 54 nationally, and at home gyms place 5 of 39 by count. From FY2017 to FY2026 the state approved 136 fitness loans worth $64.4 million, at a median of $220,000, which is 0.85x the national fitness median. None of those figures, nor either outcome rate, is flagged by our screen, since none stands apart from both Oregon's all-class figures and fitness nationally.

A wide range of loan sizes

Oregon gym loans range widely, with the middle half between $50,000 and $582,975, so the book holds both small equipment and working-capital loans and full club build-outs. SBA 7(a) carried 130 loans and SBA 504 just 6. Columbia Bank holds 18 loans worth only $948,000, a small-loan channel, while U.S. Bank, National Association's 13 come to $7.3 million and KeyBank National Association's 12 to $8.1 million; Wells Fargo Bank National Association has 12 and The Huntington National Bank 11. Franchise concepts take 36.0% of loans. Multnomah County leads with 29, Washington County has 21, Clackamas 20 and Deschutes 18. Lending picked up late: 20 approvals in FY2024, 23 in FY2025 and 17 worth $11.0 million in FY2026, after only 4 in FY2021.

Cancellations above, losses below

At least 14.6% of Oregon fitness approvals from FY2017 to FY2024 were cancelled, the ceiling being the same 14.6%, which runs above the class nationally. Losses are lighter than for gyms nationally: of 47 loans funded in the FY2017 to FY2021 window, the charged-off share is 4.3%, identical to the five-year measure of 4.3%, so these losses came early. Neither floor is distinctive by our test.

So in Oregon the risk to a borrower has more often been a gym deal that stalls before closing than one that fails afterwards, and the study should be built to close. That means a signed lease and a firm build-out budget before approval, franchisor sign-off where a brand is involved, and an equipment package priced from actual quotes. Demand should be tested on the population within a short drive, the competing clubs, studios and community centers, and realistic membership growth and churn. Coverage of the debt must survive the climb to a mature membership base, which is when many gyms are most stretched. For deals that include real estate, the appraisal will look at a large open building with limited specialised value, and the study's income should support it.

Oregon's outcome figures are floors drawn from approval and disbursement cohorts; the lenders named hold the loans today according to SBA.