Financially Strapped Health Center Closes : Pasadena: Executive Fitness Club owner blames closure on difficulties with building owners.

The Executive Fitness Club, beleaguered by financial problems since its shaky opening last year, has closed its doors, leaving members seeking new places to “go for the burn.”

Club owner Tony DeMaio, according to his attorney Hal Long, blames the demise on longstanding difficulties with Arroyo Seco Building Ltd., owner of the building in which the club was located. DeMaio could not be reached for comment.

“To the last day of operation, the club was never fully completed,” Long said. “By (the landlord’s) not doing what he said he was going to do, that resulted in eventually killing the club.”

But Michael J. Melton, attorney for the partnership that owns the building at 117 E. Colorado Blvd., said he interpreted the closure as DeMaio’s way of avoiding an eviction trial Tuesday. Because DeMaio moved out, Melton said, the proceedings scheduled for Pasadena Municipal Court were canceled.

Executive Fitness had filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy laws in December. DeMaio, who initially targeted an upscale clientele, has filed a $9.4-million suit against the building’s owners. DeMaio has claimed that Gene Buchanan, a developer and a general partner in the company that owns the building, failed to make improvements necessary for completion of the club.

“Baloney,” Melton said to charges that Buchanan or the building’s other owners were to blame for the club’s downfall.

Closure signs went up last weekend. It was the only notice given to members, who showed up this week to work out.

At midday Tuesday, unsuspecting club members still were arriving. Marco Coello, a 21-year-old from Pasadena who was dressed in a sleeveless sweat shirt and shorts, said he found it frustrating to discover the club was closed.

But Carole Fawcett, a sales counselor for Nautilus Aerobics Plus, was there to hand Coello a leaflet, describing her club’s benefits and an introductory offer for Executive members.

Nautilus Aerobics Plus plans a mid-August opening of its cavernous new facility in a restored building on Arroyo Parkway, just down the street from where Executive was located.

Besides trying to attract new members, Fawcett was maintaining a vigil outside the closed doors of Executive to help Nautilus members who had been working out at Executive while waiting for the new facility to open.

Fawcett said she had been there periodically since Friday night, when signs first went up announcing the closing. “Friday night was hysterical and Monday was a zoo,” she said.

Hundreds of club members showed up to exercise, she said.

A sign advised them to pick up locker contents at 99 E. Colorado Blvd. on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.

While Fawcett handed out brochures, another nearby gym was also trying to sign up some of the displaced exercisers. A spokeswoman for the Brignole Fitness Training Club said the DeLacey Avenue facility was making a special offer to Executive’s cardholders, temporarily reducing by $125 its $450 annual rate.