Fitness Center Feasibility Study in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area

Gyms and studios in the Santa Clara Valley

Of 73 fitness center loans SBA records around San Jose and Santa Clara for FY2017 to FY2026, the combined approval total is $32.7 million. The median is $268,500, 1.04x the national class median, which is nearly the same as elsewhere even though Bay Area occupancy costs are famously steep. The middle half spans $100,000 to $505,000. That suggests borrowers here finance leasehold buildouts and equipment, not real estate.

Franchises and relative weight

Franchise share reads 46.6%, close to half. San Jose is 38 of 608 on fitness volume once every metro and micro area is ranked, and within its own 39 asset classes the gym is 5 of 39. With a location quotient of 1.22x, fitness takes a bigger slice of local lending than it does nationwide. Neither the 7(a) count nor the 504 count is printed for San Jose, so a reader cannot say which program carried the class.

Holders and the lumpy timeline

Stearns Bank National Association appears as the current holder of 10 7(a) loans ($3.1 million), Wells Fargo Bank National Association has 8 ($1.8 million), and The Huntington National Bank has 7 ($2.3 million). This is a list of SBA-recorded holdings, not a description of anyone's lending method. The calendar is lumpy. FY2017 had 13 loans and $3.3 million, FY2018 had 5 and $1.7 million, FY2019 had 7 and $4.0 million, then FY2022 had 0 loans and $0. The rebound came in FY2024 with 16 loans and $6.0 million, then FY2025 with 13 and $7.7 million, and FY2026 with 9 and $5.8 million. FY2020, FY2021 and FY2023 are withheld.

What cannot be said

For the 73 San Jose gym loans, no cancellation figure or charge-off figure is printed; thin cohorts hold them back, and nothing withheld is zero. San Jose's count also depends on matching each project county to its 2023 area by name.

The study this metro calls for

A San Jose fitness study should test how many members live or work within a short trip of the proposed address, what peer gyms and boutique studios already charge, and how long a membership ramp the business can carry. Large open floors with high ceilings and mechanical loads dominate cost, and debt service coverage must be stressed for slow sign-ups and churn. Because collateral is mostly improvements and equipment, the appraisal will say little about real estate unless the borrower owns the premises.