Owner of Creekside courts Club South

The former Mahoning County commissioner is unsure what would happen to the closed health club’s 2,000 memberships.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

BOARDMAN — The owner of Creekside Fitness in the township is considering taking over operations of Club South.

Ed Reese said he could reopen the closed Tiffany Boulevard club within a week if a deal can be reached with the landlord. Reese was to meet today with John Giannios, the Struthers candy maker who owns the Club South building.

Reese said he wasn’t sure what would happen to current memberships, adding he will study the matter. He noted, however, that the former operator, Lance Owens, received money from those memberships, not him.

Reese is able to step in because Owens has agreed to step aside.

Owens agreed Monday to terminate his lease and turn over all of Club South’s equipment to Giannios, who dropped a lawsuit that sought money for unpaid rent.

The club’s 2,000 members were locked out two weeks ago when Giannios sought a court order to have it closed. Giannios said he was forced to take action because Owens had been operating without liability insurance.

Stephen Garea, Giannios’ lawyer, said Reese would decide how to deal with current memberships.

“We can’t obligate him to anything,” Garea said.

Reese added that several other details have to be worked out before he would agree to take over the club. These include lease arrangements, inspecting equipment and Giannios agreeing to invest in the facility.

Renovations should not delay the opening, however, because they could be completed while the club is operating, Reese said.

He said a takeover of Club South would be similar to his acquisition of Creekside in 2004. The club had 300 members at the time and now has 1,500.

Reese said adding Club South makes sense because he would have centers on both sides of Boardman. The centers are complementary, he said. Creekside has a swimming pool and full-court basketball court, while Club South has a walking track and racquetball courts.

He added that adding Club South would allow him to split some overhead costs among two centers. He said he probably would change the name of Club South to Creekside.

A former Mahoning County commissioner, Reese oversees EDM Management Co., which owns, manages or leases six nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the area.

Owens said he ran into financial problems because Club South was too large and had too many overhead costs. “I was underfunded,” he said.

He started 10 years ago on a much smaller scale when he bought Hard Times Gym on Western Reserve Road. It had 85 members. A year later, he moved the gym to the Boardman Plaza and renamed it Extreme Fitness. It grew to 1,000 members.

He took over Club South in 2005 and then decided to merge the two clubs into the Tiffany Boulevard center. Owens said he lost about 500 members, which he attributed to the closing of the Club South swimming pool and a slowing economy.

Owens, 45, said he will focus on his personal training business and will maintain his Web site, www.boardmanfitness.com.

He said he knows Club South members are angry over the closing but he feels he hasn’t done anything wrong. He described himself as just another business owner who didn’t have the cash to keep his business going.

“I feel I’ve done everything I could do to be fair to the members,” he said. “I just got in over my head.”

shilling@vindy.com