Health Club Fighting Eviction…Landlord Says “Time To Go”!

Health Club Fighting Eviction…Landlord Says “Time To Go”!

The fate of an Annandale fitness center may be determined Sept. 19 when an eviction hearing will be heard in Fairfax County District Court, but employees and members there are taking matters into their own hands, signing petitions, holding protests and firing off letters to public officials.

The center, Pro Maxx Fitness, employs 28 employees and serves a clientele of about 1,000 active members, according to Assistant Manager Sonia Lopez Zelaya.

According to Zelaya and other employees, the fitness center has been open since 2012, but its owners have been in a prolonged tenancy dispute with the owners of the Annandale Shopping Center, where it is located, and have been given a notice of eviction and told to vacate by the end of the month.Health Club Fighting Eviction…Landlord Says “Time To Go”!

Fitness center owners Ahmed Ragheb and Susan Hilaski have been advised by their attorney not to speak about the case. Likewise, Annandale Shopping Center Property Manager Carol Z. Reuss also declined to comment, adding that the property owners, The McWhorter family, also were not at liberty to speak on the issue.

But more than 650 members of the fitness center have signed a petition to keep the facility open, and both employees and members alike have been very vocal about the issue, many holding protests on Columbia Pike to make community members aware of the situation.

“We have fathers here who provide the sole income for their household, a single mother in her 50s with two kids she has to put through college, and a woman in her 70s who probably won’t be able to get another job,” said Personal Training Manager Rachel Martin.

According to Martin, the fitness center was slated to open at the end of 2012, and at that time had a five-year lease that was verbally agreed to by both parties. The fitness center owners proceeded with renovations, which entailed a complete overhaul of the whole building and a rebuild at a great expense to the owners. But then in November 2012, just prior to opening, the gym was broken into, and many expensive items including televisions and electronic fitness equipment were stolen.

“The break-in delayed the opening, and the owners had to replace everything. Because they already had paid for the buildout, the property manager made a verbal agreement to charge only a percentage of the rent until the business was up and running and able to afford full payments. Susan and Ahmed began paying full payments as agreed and a written lease was requested,” Martin said. “The lease that was presented at that time, however, had changed the terms that Susan and Ahmed were able to accept. To date, they have been unable to come to a lease agreement, all offers by them have been rejected, and counter-offer terms made by the property manager were not achievable, so without a written lease Pro Maxx has been renting month to month.”

Martin says that because the current location — utilized by members she says are police officers, firemen, EMTs, teachers and members of the military — has cost so much to renovate, moving to another location may not be possible, and eviction would spell the end of the center.

“Unfortunately, the bottom line is that the cost of the initial buildout has left significant debt that the owners must continue to pay even if evicted, and until the business has a chance to remain in this location long enough to gain a profit, we are unlikely to be able to afford the costs of starting again at a new location,” she said.

One fitness center member, Patricia Giera, a military veteran and law enforcement officer, sent a letter to Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross, detailing what the center means to her and her family.

“Pro Maxx is more than just a gym to me,” she wrote. “Sadly, my mother passed away in March after a long fight with cancer and my younger brother with special needs came to live with me … [Pro Maxx] was instrumental in making my brother feel as if he belonged in this community. A year ago he was a shy young man with debilitating social anxiety who never left the house. Since then he has undergone a complete metamorphosis; now he cannot wait to go to Pro Maxx.”

Although Pro Maxx co-owner Ragheb declined to comment in person, he did convey a personal message that he still does desire to reach an agreement with the property manager in order to save the jobs of his 28 employees. “All I care about is my employees. I don’t care about myself. If it is an issue with me personally, I am happy to step aside and no longer be a part of this business, just as long as my employees don’t have to suffer. That is all I really care about,” he wrote in a prepared statement.

gmacdonald@fairfaxtimes.comHealth Club Fighting Eviction…Landlord Says “Time To Go”!