Missoula Athletic Club to close doors
By CHELSI MOY of the Missoulian
News that the Missoula Athletic Club is shutting its doors for good at the end of the month came as a shock to many athletes, climbers and dedicated fitness folks who are now left scrambling to find alternative facilities.
With no place to practice and matches scheduled for the third week of January, the University of Montana men’s and women’s tennis teams find themselves in a desperate situation. Missoula Athletic Club’s signature tennis bubble is the team’s only indoor facility.
The youth climbing program, which has produced national competitors over the years, also currently has no place to go.
Club members are shopping for new gyms that match their price and fitness goals.
Members were notified of the club’s decision to close in a letter dated Wednesday, Dec. 5. That same day, the staff was notified of the closure.
MAC owners Richard and Linda Dennison filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004. A year later, the Missoulian reported the athletic club was working its way out of debt and intended to sell the $4 million facility.
The club had accumulated $3.7 million in debt, mostly to a Boise-based lender, Amresco Commercial Finance LLC, and Minnesota-based Yeadon Fabric, according to previous reports.
The athletic club, located at 1311 E. Broadway, found a buyer in August, signed a sales agreement and presented the deal to the bankruptcy court.
A judge tentatively approved the sale, according to the letter. However, to the athletic club’s surprise, the lender objected to the sale and the courts ruled in the lender’s favor.
The last day for the health club, rock garden and tennis facility is Dec. 30. They’ll be open until noon.
December payments are due immediately, according to the letter.
Richard Dennison refused to comment Friday about the closure.
The athletic club made arrangements with Court House Sports & Fitness Center, at 3821 Stephens Ave., for its members to continue their memberships uninterrupted at that facility.
However, the Missoula Athletic Club posted a small typed notice on its door Friday, next to a copy of the letter mailed to its members, which said the Court House planned to close its doors, too. The MAC notice said it was not aware of this fact when it made arrangements with the Court House.
But Court House Sports & Fitness Center owner Lance Hogan said he was irritated by the Missoula Athletic Club’s actions.
“Are we struggling? Yes,” Hogan said Friday. “We are dealing with some investors. We don’t know what the future of the club is. Why they posted that sign I have no idea. We would have a more definitive answer in a couple weeks.”
The Court House welcomes all MAC members to its facility, Hogan said.
Rock Garden manager Justin Boeing is more concerned about the fate of the youth climbing program than he is about his own job.
Very few places in Missoula allow lead climbing, he said, which is necessary for the more than 30 kids participating in the youth climbing program who want to compete.
“It is horrific,” Boeing said. “The youth climbing programs needs to continue. It’s a matter of … having a city-run climbing wall. It needs to happen. There’s definitely an interest.”
Boeing is meeting with parents next week to brainstorm ideas. The only option at this point involves driving to Bozeman once a week to train, he said.
The closure also leaves the UM men’s and women’s tennis teams out in the cold, literally.
The women’s tennis team has a Big Sky Conference match against Northern Colorado scheduled for February at the tennis bubble.
Although the coaches hope to hold that match in Bozeman, that doesn’t solve the problem of a practice facility. The UM tennis teams travel to Portland for matches the third week in January.
“I can’t look at the kids on the team and say we’ll have a lot of court time under our belt,” said Kris Nord, the men’s tennis coach. “We are basically without a backup plan. I wish we’d known this was coming because right now I’m stuck.”
Conference rules require that spring matches have an indoor facility available, in case of bad weather, Nord said. There are at least six scheduled in Missoula for March and April.
If no indoor courts are found, tennis athletes will be forced to play more out-of-town matches – and to practice in other towns.
“It’s like asking our men’s basketball team to drive to Hot Springs and play in their little gym with one basket,” Nord said.
The impacts won’t just affect this season, but future ones as well, he said.
“How do you recruit people without a facility?” Nord said.
Then there are those longtime Missoula Athletic Club members who are upset at the lenders, lawyers and courts.
Juliette Crump has been a member of the MAC for more than 25 years. She lives up the Rattlesnake, and attends upward of six exercise and yoga classes a week with the same two dozen middle-aged and older women, all of whom have become friends over the years.
“This is a time in our lives when we are supposed to be driving less,” she said. “We think other clubs are fine, but can you imagine driving from the Rattlesnake to the Peak (Health & Wellness Center)? It would take forever. It’s really sad.”
Some members figured this might happen eventually, Crump said. But members like Crump remained at the club all this time because they really enjoyed the staff and appreciated the diverse array of fitness classes.
“Some from our group left (earlier), but there’s still a core group of us who hung on, and would hang on,” Crump said. “We are diehards.”
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at chelsi.moy@missoulian.com.
