Bally Reorganization Means Texas Closures

DALLAS-As part of Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. Chapter 11 reorganization, nine health club locations will close this week in Texas. Six locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area will be shuttered, while three in Houston will go dark.

A spokesman for the Chicago-headquartered Bally’s Total Fitness Holding Corp. tells GlobeSt.com the company evaluated leases across the board in determining what would stay open and what wouldn’t. “Where we could come to terms with the landlords, we did. Where we couldn’t, we ended up closing the locations,” he says.

The clubs closing this week in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are at 2306 S. Collins St. in Arlington; 2528 Old Denton Rd. in Carrollton; 3232 McKinney Ave. in Dallas; 6833 Green Oaks Blvd. in Fort Worth; 650 Grapevine Hwy. in Hurst and 110 W. Campbell in Richardson. Meanwhile, in southeast Texas, locations at 7737 West Bellfort Rd. and 6205 Kirby Dr. in Houston, as well as at 129 Sawdust Rd. in Spring, Texas will be shuttered.

The spokesman says eight locations will stay open in Dallas, while 12 will remain operational in Houston. In terms of the employees, “we’re doing our best to transfer them where we can,” he remarks. “We feel deeply for them, and we’re doing our best to work with them on the best possible solution.”

The Chicago Tribune reported on June 15 that Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. filed for bankruptcy last December. In recent weeks, the company reached an agreement enabling it to emerge from Chapter 11 reorganization.

The Tribune article also said that an early June filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, the health club operator was able to strike a deal with a group including JPMorgan Chase Bank, Wells Fargo Foothill LLC, CIT Business Credit and Anchorage Crossover Credit to help reduce its debt by $660 million.