Fitness Center Feasibility Study in Texas

Texas is the largest state for SBA fitness center loans, ranking 1 of 54 with 1,212 approvals and $637.0 million from FY2017 to FY2026, and fitness stands 5 of 39 among Texas classes. What sets the cell apart from both Texas lending generally and fitness lending nationally is its charge-off floor: of the 482 loans disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, 13.5% have been written off so far, and 7.5% were lost inside five years of approval. Texas gyms have lost more than Texas borrowers as a whole and more than gyms nationally, by a gap wider than our distinctness margin.

Why the losses matter more than the volume

At 1.33x, the location quotient puts Texas gyms well above their national weight in SBA lending, and franchise units make up 60.4% of loans. Texas gym loans have a median of $327,750, which is 1.26x the national gym median, with the middle half falling between $150,000 and $564,900. Put together, Texas lenders have financed a large, franchised, above-median book of gyms, and a meaningful part of the early cohort has failed. Cancellation is the lighter risk here, with a floor of 9.6% and a ceiling of 11.4%, so trouble shows up after funding more than before it.

Lenders in the Texas fitness book

The Huntington National Bank holds 174 of the SBA 7(a) loans, worth $54.5 million; Wells Fargo Bank National Association holds 78, Simmons Bank 56, Frost Bank 37 and Stearns Bank National Association 34. SBA 7(a) carries 1,134 approvals overall and SBA 504 carries 78, led by Capital Certified Development Corporation with 34 loans and $49.1 million and Greater East Texas Certified Development Company with 12 worth $26.1 million. Huntington's figure reflects the gym loans SBA shows on its books today. Approvals reached 169 and $95.7 million in FY2025.

What a Texas gym study must prove

A study for a Texas fitness project has to be built for a lender who has read this loss floor. Demand testing must count existing clubs in the target county, and the busiest counties are Harris with 185 approvals, Dallas with 112, Tarrant with 90, Collin with 88, Denton with 86 and Travis with 84. Cost testing must hold the build-out and equipment to bids. Debt service coverage should be stressed with a slower membership ramp, higher attrition and a nearby competitor opening in year two, and the borrower should show reserves to survive it. Where real estate is pledged, the appraisal has to value the box for re-tenanting, not for a gym alone. The class itself carries no coding caveat.