Local gym owner buys adjacent, abandoned building to re-open his business

RUTHERFORD, Tenn.– An update regarding a crumbling building in one local town and its effects on nearby businesses.

In April, we shared the story of Rutherford’s Main Street Fitness closing after bricks from a building next door fell onto a car, posing public safety risks.

SEE ALSO: Possible building collapse in Rutherford leads to multiple closures

Four months later, the building beside the gym is now being demolished.

“I can never get the full story from the owner of the building versus the town. So I decided to get my own information and get my own surveyors, get my own inspectors and at that point finally make an offer to him,” said Travis Hamilton, owner of Main Street Fitness.

Main Street Fitness has officially been closed since March 31.

After receiving information from both the owner and community leaders,  Hamilton says he did what was best for his members, which was to buy the building from the former owner.

“I bought it from him and it cost a lot of money but got a demolition team out here and was able to get it torn down. So we can finally get the business open, but secondly take care of the community, because its been safely concerns for this many months and it’s been still standing up,” he shares.

After almost 5 months of being closed, Hamilton says he has lost money. But he has protected residents and his gym members.

“Beside the money we lost in 4 months of not being open, we’re nearing the six-figure mark on buying a building, tearing it down, plus being out of business,” Hamilton adds.

Hamilton says he has not received any help from anyone on what steps to take. He does worry for the future of other business owners and potential investors.

“Not asking for a handout, but any kind of help then it just makes people not want to open up businesses here anymore. Then, that’s what kind of leads to a towns decay. So, I’m still in the running of trying to revitalize it for sure.”

Hamilton says demolition should wrap-up by the end of this week.

He’ll then have another inspector to make sure his business can re- open and gym goers can exercise without any worries.

“I still want my community to look good regardless of what’s going on and any kind of feelings I have towards how the process went. I still want my town to do great and I’m not going to sit by idly and it watch it decay.”

Hamilton hopes that his business can re- open 2 to 3 weeks from now. He plans on re-developing the lot instead of it just being empty, but he hasn’t made any concrete plans.