Strong Gym to switch names after ownership change

Last edited 5:07 p.m., Dec. 16, 2015

Nearly two years after moving the operation downtown, Strong Gym soon is set to undergo a name change following an ownership shakeup.

Paden Stringer last week bought out equal partners Matt Reynolds and William McNeely for an undisclosed amount to become the sole owner.

Stringer plans to rebrand the 506 S. Jefferson Ave. gym as Royal Barbell by the first of the year. The business would continue to operate under Strong Fit LLC, he said.

“My goal is to get more generalized people in the door and get them into barbell training. That’s where fitness is heading,” he said, noting the Strong Gym moniker was perceived as unfriendly to beginners. “The name has scared people off.

“Everybody I talked to member-wise didn’t want it to shut down. That’s a big reason I bought their shares.”

Stringer, who leases the 13,000-square-foot building from his grandmother, businesswoman Patti Penny, said he’s aiming to create a gym experience that incorporates a variety of fitness options, including CrossFit, Olympic-style weightlifting and barbell training for beginners and veterans.

“I want to incorporate every single one of them into one facility,” he said, noting the gym employs four and has over 400 members.

Noting he and McNeely signed a nondisparagement clause, Reynolds said the ownership change came as a surprise.

“It was out of nowhere,” Reynolds said this afternoon. “Our third owner who bought us out because his family owned the building, they served us with papers in the middle of November stating that we had to be out of the building by Dec. 31.

“That third owner decided he wanted complete and sovereign control of the business.”

Stringer, who said he had wanted out of the business earlier in the year, said the notice was a matter of a failure to pay rent.

Reynolds said he and McNeely plan to utilize the Strong Gym name at some point in 2016.