The sudden shutdown has also left members scrambling for answers, particularly customers who made substantial advance payments.
"What happens to all of us who were encouraged to pay a year up front?" one person said after the closure announcement.
That question was not answered in the lengthy message sent to members Monday morning. It is currently unclear whether members with prepaid annual memberships will receive refunds, credits at other F45 locations or another form of reimbursement. Because individual F45 studios are generally franchised businesses, the financial responsibility for outstanding Pacific Beach memberships may also depend on the agreements between the local franchisee, members and F45's corporate organization.
In an unusually detailed email sent August 24, owners Andrew "Andy" Thomas and Nicole Thomas announced that F45 Training Pacific Beach had closed effective immediately while laying out a years-long dispute surrounding STTP LLC, the company that operated the franchise at 1225 Garnet Avenue.
The accusations are serious, and several have not been adjudicated in court. The Thomas family specifically characterized portions of its account as allegations, and SanDiegoVille is doing the same. However, documents reviewed by SanDiegoVille independently corroborate significant pieces of the underlying timeline, including a 2022 change in franchise ownership, a subsequently filed blanket UCC financing statement against STTP LLC's assets, and former operator Evan Tyrrell's later Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, which identifies STTP as a co-debtor on a JPMorgan Chase obligation.
The result is an unusually messy ending for a gym that the owners say was once the highest-grossing F45 studio in the United States.
F45 Pacific Beach opened during perhaps the worst possible moment to launch a fitness business: September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unable to operate normally indoors, the group initially built its community in the parking lot behind the Garnet Avenue studio.
Equipment was stored in a shipping container and brought outside for classes, with turf, fencing, mats and weights assembled around the lot. The owners say the operation reached its 420-member capacity within approximately three months and became F45's highest-grossing U.S. location during that period.
"That happened because a community decided to show up in a car park in a pandemic," the owners wrote, recalling members exercising outdoors through winter and even wearing gloves to handle cold dumbbells.
Behind that success, however, the ownership structure was changing.
According to the account sent to members, the initial investor group included the Thomases as non-operating partners while Tyrrell held a larger stake and was involved with the business locally. The Thomas family says it acquired Tyrrell's remaining ownership interest in early 2022.
Documents from F45 corporate support that a formal ownership transition occurred around that time.
A Fourth Amendment to the franchise agreement, dated January 31, 2022 and executed the following month, identifies Tyrrell as the "Outgoing Guarantor" and states that he requested removal as a principal and guarantor. The amendment removes Tyrrell from the list of franchise principals and owners and identifies Andrew Thomas as a 95% owner and Evan Hajj as a 5% owner of franchisee STTP LLC.
That distinction is central to the dispute.
The Thomas family alleges that despite having sold his interest, Tyrrell continued to retain access to company banking and financial information and subsequently acted in STTP LLC's name without their knowledge or authorization.
Among the most consequential allegations involves a JPMorgan Chase business line of credit that the owners say was established after the ownership transfer. The family alleges that a $180,000 credit line was opened in STTP LLC's name and that $100,000 was subsequently withdrawn from it.
SanDiegoVille has not independently established who applied for or authorized that line of credit, and the financing records reviewed do not themselves establish that point.
What is independently documented is what happened next.
On November 18, 2022, a UCC-1 financing statement was filed with the California Secretary of State naming STTP LLC as debtor and JPMorgan Chase Bank as the secured party. The collateral description is exceptionally broad, encompassing all inventory, accounts, equipment, general intangibles, records, proceeds and subsequently acquired assets.
In practical terms, such a filing can create a substantial obstacle when attempting to sell a company whose assets are subject to a secured creditor's interest.
That appears to have become a major problem when the owners later tried to sell F45 Pacific Beach.
Documents provided to SanDiegoVille include December 2025 correspondence from a business adviser preparing the studio for sale. After conducting an entity and lien search, the adviser notified the owners that an active UCC lien existed against STTP LLC and wrote that it would have to somehow be "satisfied or taken care of" before an escrow company would permit the business to transfer to a new owner.
The Thomas family says it repeatedly attempted to sell the operating studio but could not complete a transaction because prospective purchasers encountered the lien and other credit issues during due diligence.
"The studio was not failing," the owners wrote. "But the lien, credit issues and other matters described above materially impaired our ability to transfer or sell the business."
That is a notable distinction for members confronting Monday's closure. The owners are not describing a gym that gradually lost its clientele and ran out of business. They contend that a successful operating location became financially trapped inside a corporate entity carrying obligations that could not easily be separated from the business.
The ownership dispute became still more complicated in 2023.
The Thomas family says California corporate records for STTP LLC were changed without their authorization, including a change to the company's agent for service of process. They allege Tyrrell subsequently continued conducting activity in the company's name and that several credit accounts were opened without their approval.
Those claims remain allegations and have not been adjudicated. The existence of a credit account alone also does not establish who authorized it, who benefited from it or whether it was improperly obtained.
There is, however, another substantial piece of public record.
On August 31, 2025, Tyrrell filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California. His schedules reported $77,439 in assets against $750,280 in liabilities, including $700,280 in nonpriority unsecured claims.
Among those obligations was a JPMorgan Chase business line of credit listed at $48,727 and described as having been incurred between 2022 and 2024.
More importantly for the Pacific Beach studio, the bankruptcy's Schedule H specifically identifies STTP LLC as a co-debtor on a JPMorgan Chase obligation.
The bankruptcy schedules separately identify "STTP LLC - F45 Pacific Beach" in connection with what Tyrrell characterized as a "former business interest."
Those records corroborate the owners' assertion that STTP LLC became entangled in Tyrrell's bankruptcy proceedings, though they do not establish the Thomas family's broader allegations about how the debts were initially created.
American Express also later appeared in the bankruptcy proceeding. A November 2025 filing requested that American Express National Bank receive notices in Tyrrell's Chapter 7 case.
Meanwhile, correspondence from F45's own legal department in January 2026 provides another notable piece of the ownership puzzle. Responding to the Pacific Beach franchise regarding renewal, F45 Legal stated that its records showed two owners under the Fourth Amendment: Andrew Thomas and Evan Hajj.
By late 2025 and into 2026, the Thomas family says it reached the point where continuing to inject personal funds could keep the gym operating but could not solve its underlying structural problems.
"Personal capital doesn't remove a lien," the family wrote. "It doesn't withdraw a co-debtor designation from someone else's bankruptcy filing. It doesn't repair a destroyed business credit profile."
Then came what the owners called the "final theft."
According to Monday's closure announcement, sometime between the completion of Saturday morning's classes and approximately midday Sunday, someone entered the Pacific Beach studio and removed its workout equipment, including weights, cardio machines and an InBody body-composition scanner.
The owners characterized the incident as a burglary and said they awoke to discover the equipment gone.
SanDiegoVille has not independently confirmed a police report, determined the circumstances under which the equipment was removed or identified who was responsible. There is currently no evidence reviewed by SanDiegoVille connecting Tyrrell or any other specific person to the alleged theft, and that incident should be treated separately from the financial allegations surrounding the business.
For the Thomas family, however, it apparently erased much of whatever tangible value remained in the studio.
"Today we woke up to our entire studio's workout equipment, weights, cardio machines & InBody scanner technology stolen & no longer inside the F45 Training Pacific Beach studio," the owners wrote.
The shutdown was immediate.
That leaves not only members wondering where they will exercise next, but employees suddenly without jobs and potentially customers with significant prepaid balances.
Annual gym memberships can represent hundreds or even thousands of dollars paid months in advance, making the unanswered refund question particularly consequential. Members who bought packages, prepaid contracts or annual plans may now need clarification regarding whether the local franchisee remains responsible for those balances and whether F45 corporate or neighboring franchise locations will provide any accommodation.
The owners' announcement did not explain what would happen to prepaid memberships.
It did, however, repeatedly emphasize that coaches, front-desk workers and other studio employees were not responsible for the events leading to the closure.
"Every person who coached your sessions, ran your front desk and managed this studio is losing their job today," the owners wrote. "They had no involvement in and no knowledge of any of what's described above."
The suddenness of the closure makes the situation particularly striking. Members were still regularly attending a studio that had cultivated one of Pacific Beach's more recognizable fitness communities before waking Monday to an email announcing it was over.
This was not, at least according to its current ownership, the typical slow decline of a struggling gym.
They say F45 Pacific Beach still had customers, equipment, franchise rights and a business they believed someone else would have purchased. What ultimately killed it, in their account, was an increasingly tangled corporate and financial structure they say they inherited without understanding its extent and ultimately could not unwind.
Those claims warrant further scrutiny, particularly given the seriousness of the allegations directed toward a former owner. The UCC filing, franchise documents, bankruptcy schedules and other records independently substantiate several important parts of the timeline, but they do not establish every accusation made in Monday's message.
SanDiegoVille is seeking additional information regarding the allegations, the reported removal of the studio's equipment and the status of prepaid memberships.
For now, the end is considerably less complicated than everything that preceded it.
A gym that started with San Diegans lifting weights in a parking lot during a global pandemic, reportedly grew into the highest-grossing F45 location in America and built a community hundreds of members strong is suddenly empty.
"We could have sent you three sentences about a difficult decision," the Thomas family wrote. "We think you'd have known it was hollow."
For members who paid a year in advance, however, another difficult question now hangs over the closure: what happens to their money?
F45 Training Pacific Beach was located at 1225 Garnet Avenue in San Diego's Pacific Beach neighborhood.
Originally published on August 24, 2026.
"What happens to all of us who were encouraged to pay a year up front?" one person said after the closure announcement.
That question was not answered in the lengthy message sent to members Monday morning. It is currently unclear whether members with prepaid annual memberships will receive refunds, credits at other F45 locations or another form of reimbursement. Because individual F45 studios are generally franchised businesses, the financial responsibility for outstanding Pacific Beach memberships may also depend on the agreements between the local franchisee, members and F45's corporate organization.
In an unusually detailed email sent August 24, owners Andrew "Andy" Thomas and Nicole Thomas announced that F45 Training Pacific Beach had closed effective immediately while laying out a years-long dispute surrounding STTP LLC, the company that operated the franchise at 1225 Garnet Avenue.
The accusations are serious, and several have not been adjudicated in court. The Thomas family specifically characterized portions of its account as allegations, and SanDiegoVille is doing the same. However, documents reviewed by SanDiegoVille independently corroborate significant pieces of the underlying timeline, including a 2022 change in franchise ownership, a subsequently filed blanket UCC financing statement against STTP LLC's assets, and former operator Evan Tyrrell's later Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, which identifies STTP as a co-debtor on a JPMorgan Chase obligation.
The result is an unusually messy ending for a gym that the owners say was once the highest-grossing F45 studio in the United States.
F45 Pacific Beach opened during perhaps the worst possible moment to launch a fitness business: September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unable to operate normally indoors, the group initially built its community in the parking lot behind the Garnet Avenue studio.
Equipment was stored in a shipping container and brought outside for classes, with turf, fencing, mats and weights assembled around the lot. The owners say the operation reached its 420-member capacity within approximately three months and became F45's highest-grossing U.S. location during that period.
"That happened because a community decided to show up in a car park in a pandemic," the owners wrote, recalling members exercising outdoors through winter and even wearing gloves to handle cold dumbbells.
Behind that success, however, the ownership structure was changing.
According to the account sent to members, the initial investor group included the Thomases as non-operating partners while Tyrrell held a larger stake and was involved with the business locally. The Thomas family says it acquired Tyrrell's remaining ownership interest in early 2022.
Documents from F45 corporate support that a formal ownership transition occurred around that time.
A Fourth Amendment to the franchise agreement, dated January 31, 2022 and executed the following month, identifies Tyrrell as the "Outgoing Guarantor" and states that he requested removal as a principal and guarantor. The amendment removes Tyrrell from the list of franchise principals and owners and identifies Andrew Thomas as a 95% owner and Evan Hajj as a 5% owner of franchisee STTP LLC.
That distinction is central to the dispute.
The Thomas family alleges that despite having sold his interest, Tyrrell continued to retain access to company banking and financial information and subsequently acted in STTP LLC's name without their knowledge or authorization.
Among the most consequential allegations involves a JPMorgan Chase business line of credit that the owners say was established after the ownership transfer. The family alleges that a $180,000 credit line was opened in STTP LLC's name and that $100,000 was subsequently withdrawn from it.
SanDiegoVille has not independently established who applied for or authorized that line of credit, and the financing records reviewed do not themselves establish that point.
What is independently documented is what happened next.
On November 18, 2022, a UCC-1 financing statement was filed with the California Secretary of State naming STTP LLC as debtor and JPMorgan Chase Bank as the secured party. The collateral description is exceptionally broad, encompassing all inventory, accounts, equipment, general intangibles, records, proceeds and subsequently acquired assets.
In practical terms, such a filing can create a substantial obstacle when attempting to sell a company whose assets are subject to a secured creditor's interest.
That appears to have become a major problem when the owners later tried to sell F45 Pacific Beach.
Documents provided to SanDiegoVille include December 2025 correspondence from a business adviser preparing the studio for sale. After conducting an entity and lien search, the adviser notified the owners that an active UCC lien existed against STTP LLC and wrote that it would have to somehow be "satisfied or taken care of" before an escrow company would permit the business to transfer to a new owner.
The Thomas family says it repeatedly attempted to sell the operating studio but could not complete a transaction because prospective purchasers encountered the lien and other credit issues during due diligence.
"The studio was not failing," the owners wrote. "But the lien, credit issues and other matters described above materially impaired our ability to transfer or sell the business."
That is a notable distinction for members confronting Monday's closure. The owners are not describing a gym that gradually lost its clientele and ran out of business. They contend that a successful operating location became financially trapped inside a corporate entity carrying obligations that could not easily be separated from the business.
The ownership dispute became still more complicated in 2023.
The Thomas family says California corporate records for STTP LLC were changed without their authorization, including a change to the company's agent for service of process. They allege Tyrrell subsequently continued conducting activity in the company's name and that several credit accounts were opened without their approval.
Those claims remain allegations and have not been adjudicated. The existence of a credit account alone also does not establish who authorized it, who benefited from it or whether it was improperly obtained.
There is, however, another substantial piece of public record.
On August 31, 2025, Tyrrell filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California. His schedules reported $77,439 in assets against $750,280 in liabilities, including $700,280 in nonpriority unsecured claims.
Among those obligations was a JPMorgan Chase business line of credit listed at $48,727 and described as having been incurred between 2022 and 2024.
More importantly for the Pacific Beach studio, the bankruptcy's Schedule H specifically identifies STTP LLC as a co-debtor on a JPMorgan Chase obligation.
The bankruptcy schedules separately identify "STTP LLC - F45 Pacific Beach" in connection with what Tyrrell characterized as a "former business interest."
Those records corroborate the owners' assertion that STTP LLC became entangled in Tyrrell's bankruptcy proceedings, though they do not establish the Thomas family's broader allegations about how the debts were initially created.
American Express also later appeared in the bankruptcy proceeding. A November 2025 filing requested that American Express National Bank receive notices in Tyrrell's Chapter 7 case.
Meanwhile, correspondence from F45's own legal department in January 2026 provides another notable piece of the ownership puzzle. Responding to the Pacific Beach franchise regarding renewal, F45 Legal stated that its records showed two owners under the Fourth Amendment: Andrew Thomas and Evan Hajj.
By late 2025 and into 2026, the Thomas family says it reached the point where continuing to inject personal funds could keep the gym operating but could not solve its underlying structural problems.
"Personal capital doesn't remove a lien," the family wrote. "It doesn't withdraw a co-debtor designation from someone else's bankruptcy filing. It doesn't repair a destroyed business credit profile."
Then came what the owners called the "final theft."
According to Monday's closure announcement, sometime between the completion of Saturday morning's classes and approximately midday Sunday, someone entered the Pacific Beach studio and removed its workout equipment, including weights, cardio machines and an InBody body-composition scanner.
The owners characterized the incident as a burglary and said they awoke to discover the equipment gone.
SanDiegoVille has not independently confirmed a police report, determined the circumstances under which the equipment was removed or identified who was responsible. There is currently no evidence reviewed by SanDiegoVille connecting Tyrrell or any other specific person to the alleged theft, and that incident should be treated separately from the financial allegations surrounding the business.
For the Thomas family, however, it apparently erased much of whatever tangible value remained in the studio.
"Today we woke up to our entire studio's workout equipment, weights, cardio machines & InBody scanner technology stolen & no longer inside the F45 Training Pacific Beach studio," the owners wrote.
The shutdown was immediate.
That leaves not only members wondering where they will exercise next, but employees suddenly without jobs and potentially customers with significant prepaid balances.
Annual gym memberships can represent hundreds or even thousands of dollars paid months in advance, making the unanswered refund question particularly consequential. Members who bought packages, prepaid contracts or annual plans may now need clarification regarding whether the local franchisee remains responsible for those balances and whether F45 corporate or neighboring franchise locations will provide any accommodation.
The owners' announcement did not explain what would happen to prepaid memberships.
It did, however, repeatedly emphasize that coaches, front-desk workers and other studio employees were not responsible for the events leading to the closure.
"Every person who coached your sessions, ran your front desk and managed this studio is losing their job today," the owners wrote. "They had no involvement in and no knowledge of any of what's described above."
The suddenness of the closure makes the situation particularly striking. Members were still regularly attending a studio that had cultivated one of Pacific Beach's more recognizable fitness communities before waking Monday to an email announcing it was over.
This was not, at least according to its current ownership, the typical slow decline of a struggling gym.
They say F45 Pacific Beach still had customers, equipment, franchise rights and a business they believed someone else would have purchased. What ultimately killed it, in their account, was an increasingly tangled corporate and financial structure they say they inherited without understanding its extent and ultimately could not unwind.
Those claims warrant further scrutiny, particularly given the seriousness of the allegations directed toward a former owner. The UCC filing, franchise documents, bankruptcy schedules and other records independently substantiate several important parts of the timeline, but they do not establish every accusation made in Monday's message.
SanDiegoVille is seeking additional information regarding the allegations, the reported removal of the studio's equipment and the status of prepaid memberships.
For now, the end is considerably less complicated than everything that preceded it.
A gym that started with San Diegans lifting weights in a parking lot during a global pandemic, reportedly grew into the highest-grossing F45 location in America and built a community hundreds of members strong is suddenly empty.
"We could have sent you three sentences about a difficult decision," the Thomas family wrote. "We think you'd have known it was hollow."
For members who paid a year in advance, however, another difficult question now hangs over the closure: what happens to their money?
F45 Training Pacific Beach was located at 1225 Garnet Avenue in San Diego's Pacific Beach neighborhood.
Originally published on August 24, 2026.
