How to Open a Fitness Studio in Brevard County: The Space Checklist
To open a fitness studio in Brevard County, start by knowing what you need from the space before you sign the lease.
At Reach Commercial Real Estate, we represent tenants. We help you find locations, compare costs, investigate property questions and negotiate the lease. Reach founder Cassandra Hartford has worked in Brevard County commercial real estate for 17 years and has closed more than 1,500 sales and leases.
This is our guide to the leasing process, from your first conversation with us through taking possession and preparing to open.
Quick answer: what you need to open a fitness studio in Brevard County
Zoning. Melbourne's code does not name a fitness studio. Indoor recreation, which includes gymnasiums, is conditional in C-1 and C-3 and permitted in C-2.
Parking set by Melbourne's community development director, from measures that include one space per 150 square feet of gross floor area.
An occupant load of one person per 50 gross square feet of exercise room.
Restrooms that meet the building code's fixture counts for gymnasiums.
Registration of each location with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).
Lease terms for the buildout. Ask for a permit contingency, a TI allowance and free rent during the buildout.
1. Bring us these details before we search
Before we send listings, we need to understand your operation. Will you run group classes, personal training, open gym hours or a mix? How many people will be in the room at the busiest time? Will you sell memberships under contract?
We start with these details from you:
Your class and training plans.
Your headcount goal for the busiest class.
Your equipment list, with specifications.
Whether you need locker rooms or showers, what floor your classes need and how much noise they make.
Your busiest hours and expected staffing.
Your preferred areas.
Your opening budget, your monthly occupancy budget and your target opening date.
What you will compromise on and what your business needs to function.
You do not need every detail settled. We need enough information to search for your business rather than send every available storefront.
2. Screen fitness studio spaces before you tour
We map headcount, parking, power and signage before you tour. A listing gives us a starting point, and we ask for the information needed to evaluate the property.
For each candidate, we request the asking rent, CAM or NNN estimates, previous use, parking arrangements, existing equipment, proposed landlord work and the improvement allowance. CAM means common area maintenance.
If a critical answer is missing, we keep the property under investigation. We do not treat an unanswered question as an approval.
See How to Check Parking at Peak Hours Before You Sign. See also How to Read a LoopNet Listing for a Lease.
3. Tour for how a fitness studio runs
During a tour, we look beyond the finishes. Where will members enter and wait? Where will classes happen? Where will your team receive equipment, store inventory and take out trash?
4. Check zoning before signing a fitness studio lease
A landlord's willingness to lease to a fitness studio does not replace the local government's review.
Melbourne's code does not name a fitness studio. It lists Recreation, indoor, with gymnasiums among its examples, as conditional in C-1 and C-3 and permitted in C-2. For a use that is not listed, the Community Development Director decides whether it is allowed in the district and whether it is permitted, permitted with conditions or conditional.
A conditional use needs a public hearing, and each owner of the land signs and notarizes the application. The city's fee page lists the conditional use fee at $1,375 plus a $125 legal advertisement fee.
Planning and Zoning will check an address to help determine whether a business would be permitted there, according to Melbourne's Starting a New Business Toolkit. If additional approvals are necessary, we bring the expected process and timing into the lease discussion.
See How to Find Out If Your Business Is Allowed in a Melbourne Zoning District. See also How to Open in a Space That Used to Be Something Else: Change of Use in Brevard County. See also How to Get a Conditional Use Approval in Melbourne, and Why the Landlord Signs.
5. Check parking, occupant load and restrooms for a fitness studio
Your class plans and equipment list should guide the questions.
Parking: Melbourne's Section 9.72 sets health club parking as any combination of measures that the community development director determines, including one space per 150 square feet of gross floor area and one space per two employees on the largest working shift (Land Development Code, Section 9.72). Fitness studios are not named in that section.
Occupant load: Table 1004.5 counts one occupant per 50 gross square feet of exercise room and of locker room, and one per 150 gross square feet of business area (Florida Building Code, Building). A 1,500 gross square foot exercise room gives an occupant load of 30.
Sprinklers: Gymnasiums without spectator seating are Group A-3 (Florida Building Code, Building, section 303.4). In Group A-3, sprinklers are required where the fire area exceeds 12,000 square feet, where the occupant load is 300 or more, or where the fire area is on a floor other than the level of exit discharge (section 903.2.1.3).
Restrooms: Table 403.1 lists gymnasiums at one water closet per 125 for men and one per 65 for women, one lavatory per 200, one drinking fountain per 500 and one service sink (Florida Building Code, Plumbing).
Have your design professional review capacity, exits, circulation and accessibility.
See How to Count the Parking Your Business Needs in Melbourne. See also How to Calculate Your Occupant Load for a Commercial Space. See also How to Know If Your Buildout Needs Sprinklers.
6. Know what your broker, architect, contractor and attorney each do
Reach handles the search, the cost comparison, the property questions and the business terms of the lease.
Your contractor and design professional evaluate the technical work and cost. In unincorporated Brevard County, the commercial permit application lists construction documents signed and sealed by a Florida registered architect or engineer. Your Florida commercial leasing attorney reviews the legal language and documents.
7. Compare the full cost of each fitness studio location
We compare more than base rent. Your occupancy review should include base rent, CAM and other charges, scheduled increases, utilities, repairs assigned to you, construction and equipment installation, deposits and rent due before opening.
The comparison should show what you pay to get open and what you pay to stay open.
See How to Read the CAM and NNN Section of a Lease. See also How to Work Out Your Real Monthly Occupancy Cost.
8. Negotiate the lease around your opening plan
Once you select a property, we negotiate the business terms. We focus on:
A permitted use clause that describes your operation.
Approval contingencies for zoning, permits, financing and construction feasibility.
Landlord delivery and the tenant improvement allowance.
Rent commencement and construction delays.
Maintenance, additional charges, the personal guaranty and exit terms.
An allowance, rent-free period or other concession only helps when the written terms fit your project.
See How to Ask for Free Rent While You Build Out. See also How to Ask for a Tenant Improvement Allowance. See also How to Add a Permit Contingency to Your Lease.
9. Keep lease dates aligned with the buildout
After signing, your contractor and design team manage plans, permits and construction. We stay focused on the lease dates: possession and delivery, landlord work, allowance submissions, construction deadlines and rent commencement.
Melbourne requires building permits for tenant buildouts. The city's Building Section says commercial permits typically average 14 to 21 working days on a single review.
See How to Find Out How Long a Melbourne Commercial Permit Takes. See also How to Use a Private Provider for Building Permits.
10. Register your health studio and get your business tax receipts
Florida requires a health studio to register each of its business locations with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), remit an annual registration fee of $300 for each location and post the proof of registration certificate at the registration desk or front desk, whichever is more prominent (sections 501.015 and 501.0125, Florida Statutes).
A person applying for or renewing a local business tax receipt to engage in business as a health studio must exhibit an active registration certificate from FDACS before the receipt is issued or reissued (section 501.015(7)).
A health studio that sells contracts for health studio services must maintain for each business location a bond of $25,000 from a surety company admitted to do business in Florida, and the bond must be obtained before a business tax receipt may be issued (section 501.016(1)).
Melbourne's business toolkit directs businesses to obtain the city business tax receipt followed by the Brevard County receipt. Your reviewing agencies confirm when you have satisfied their opening requirements.
Extra items to add to your fitness studio checklist
Equipment a previous tenant left behind. Before assigning value to it, we ask who owns it, what records exist and whether your team finds it suitable for your operation.
The starting condition. We compare different starting conditions, such as a former studio, another retail space or an unfinished space. Each needs its own cost and construction review.
Parking at peak hours and co-tenants. Our checklist covers parking at peak hours, co-tenants that bring customers and visibility.
A sign permit. Signage work requires a permit, according to Melbourne's Building Section FAQ. For each candidate, we request the sign criteria.
A temporary certificate of occupancy. The Florida Building Code, Building, section 111.3 lets the building official issue one before the entire work is complete, if the portions to be occupied are safe, and the official sets the time period.
Accessibility. The ADA rule makes you and your landlord both responsible and says the lease can allocate the work between you (28 CFR 36.201(b)).
Schedule changes. If the project schedule changes, raise the lease implications early, and review the documents with your attorney rather than assume a delay changes your payment obligations.
See How to Read a Certificate of Occupancy for a Commercial Space. See also How to Tell Who Pays for ADA Fixes, Landlord or Tenant. See also How to Spot a Second Generation Space.
Start your search with Reach
You do not need to find the property before calling us. In most deals the landlord pays our fee.
Call 321-514-0876 with your class plans, budget, preferred area and target opening date, or with the address of a space you have found.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a fitness studio share parking with a neighbor?
Melbourne's Section 9.73(a)(3) lets the required total be reduced when two uses share a lot and their operating hours do not overlap, but not below the largest requirement plus one-half of the spaces required for each additional use.
Who counts as a health studio under Florida law?
Florida treats a business that sells exercise instruction, training or the use of exercise equipment as a health studio (Florida Statutes, section 501.0125(1)). An individual working as a personal trainer is not one.
Does a business tax receipt confirm that a space is zoned for a fitness studio?
The Brevard County Tax Collector says issuing the receipt does not confirm that the business activity complies with local zoning regulations or that the premises have the appropriate building occupancy or life safety requirements.
Sources
Written by Cassandra Hartford, founder and CEO of Reach Commercial Real Estate. She has worked in Brevard County commercial real estate for 17 years, representing buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants across Florida's Space Coast.
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