The owner of the Dowagiac Strength Beyond gym is looking to sell the business and is offering to assist potential owners in getting the location back up and running.

The gym, which is located at 105 Shelton St., was closed in December by Strength Beyond President Aaron DiPrima.

DiPrima said the primary reason for closing the gym was because of the difficulty he had in operating the business remotely from the Kalamazoo region.

“When we shut the gym down, it wasn’t losing money, it was just too hard for us to continue to monitor and maintain,” DiPrima said.

In addition to the Dowagaic gym, Strength Beyond also operates fitness centers in Paw Paw and Kalamazoo. The chain recently purchased a new location in downtown Kalamazoo, which put further constraints on their ability to operate the Dowagiac branch.

“We decided then that we didn’t have the energy, time or resources to continue the Dowagiac operation,” DiPrima said.

DiPrima has owned the Shelton Street building for the past seven years, which had served as a gym under its previous owners as well. Since taking over, Strength Beyond had amassed a membership base of more than 250 people, and earned an average of $5,000 a month in revenue, DiPrima said.

“Over the last couple of years, it was making us only a little bit of money, but it made the enterprise look bigger and kept a few of our people employed,” the owner said.

Former members of the Dowagiac gym can either visit the Paw Paw or Kalamazoo locations, or they place a freeze on their account, which will be transferred over to the new owners should they choose to continue operating the building as a gym.

Typically, when a company looks to sell of one of its gyms, they offer the location to a competitor, who purchases the venue as well as the equipment and membership base. However, DiPrima said he couldn’t find such a buyer in Dowagiac, so he was forced to put the business on the open market.

“The fact there isn’t a similar competitor in the market makes purchasing this gym an even better business opportunity,” DiPrima said.

DiPrima estimates that interested buyers would only have to invest an additional $10,000 to get the gym back to the condition it was in before Strength Beyond closed the doors if they wish to continue to operate it as a fitness facility. In addition, the owner said his business could provide consulting to help the new owner get the location on its feet.

“Running this gym isn’t going to be a side project. You will have to devote a lot of your time to it, but it can be a very lucrative venture,” DiPrima said.

Dowagiac has a number of other fitness clubs throughout the city, such as the Curves fitness center for women, the Cass County Council on Aging’s fitness center and Southwestern Michigan College’s student activity center.

Potential buyers are encouraged to call DiPrima at (269) 782-9000.