Fitness Center Feasibility Study in the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area

Raleigh gyms: more than twice the national concentration

The location quotient for fitness centers in the Raleigh area is 2.15x, the figure that defines this cell: gyms account for more than double their national share of local SBA lending. SBA approved 104 such loans between FY2017 and FY2026, worth $52.9 million, which puts the area 32 of 608 for the class and the class 3 of 39 among Raleigh's own. The median loan is $350,000, 1.35x what the class borrows at the midpoint nationally, with loans between the quartiles running $138,650 to $685,750. More than half of the loans, 58.7%, carry a franchise flag.

What is not published

Raleigh's tallies of 7(a) and 504 loans are not published, because each sits on a small base or would let a small number be worked out by subtraction; neither is zero. A cancellation upper limit and any charge-off percentage are also held back. The page therefore cannot say how many Raleigh gym loans were real-estate backed or how disbursed loans have performed. The one outcome figure it can give is a cancellation floor: 12.7% or more of loans approved in FY2017 to FY2024 were cancelled.

Who holds the loans

Five 7(a) holders are named. The Huntington National Bank has 13 loans worth $5.0 million and TowneBank 10 worth $5.4 million, followed by three banks at 6 loans each and $2.9 million each: Bank of Oak Ridge, Wells Fargo Bank National Association and Pinnacle Bank (TN). The ties show how thin the field is. The list is SBA's account of holders and says nothing about the standards of any lender. Wake County accounts for 96 of the loans.

Years and what a study has to do

Yearly counts are small and level until FY2024, when 16 loans and $10.4 million were approved; FY2025 brought 9 loans and $9.6 million and FY2026 16 loans and $9.6 million. With a concentration this high, a lender may see many comparable gym files, so a study has to set the project apart from them: where the members come from, how many other clubs and boutique studios are already inside the drive radius, whether the franchise agreement protects territory, what the lease costs per member, and whether dues in the first months of operation can cover debt service. Inclusion works county by county: loans qualify only if the project's county name appears in the 2023 metro delineation.