Content area
Full Text
DeWITT - Hercules Gym, which has operated in the Syracuse area for nearly 40 years, is under new ownership and signed a five-year lease to operate in a new location.
The strength-training facility operates in a 12,500-square-foot space at 6361 Thompson Road in DeWitt.
RAV Properties, LLC, a Jamesville-based real-estate investment company, announced the lease signing in a news release distributed on Jan. 15.
The new owners, Rheta West and Pete Knutsen, bought the business from Joe Dardano in a transaction that closed on Dec. 29. West and Knutsen, who are a couple and long-time members of the gym, bought the business for $50,000, they said.
West has been a member for six years, and Knutsen, about three years. Both are competitive power lifters, they say.
Dardano launched the business as Spartan Gym in 1976, according to its website. It had previously operated in a 6,000-square-foot space at 2004 Teall Ave. in Salina.
The new location opened Jan. 19, but the business plans a formal opening in February. Both West and Knutsen spoke with CNYBJ at the gym on Jan. 19.
The previous tenant, another gym called VB Performance Fitness, closed and left behind a turf field, rubber-mat flooring, and finished bathrooms, according to Knutsen.
The vacated space "made it good for a gym," says West.
The couple heard...