Arnprior’s Kenwood Athletic Club closure suprises owner

ARNPRIOR – Like many of the Kenwood Athletic Club (KAC) members who were showing up for their morning workout Monday, Sept. 30, the longtime gym’s closure was as much a shock to owner-operator Doug Cavanagh, as it was to them.

The multi-use athletic facility has a 20-year history in Arnprior, all of those years owned and operated by Pakenham’s Doug Cavanagh. He found out the facility’s doors were locked the same way everyone else did. Kind of.

“My pickleball guy texted me and said his card wasn’t working,” Cavanagh told West Carleton Online Thursday, Oct. 3. “He hadn’t even seen the notice. A few minutes later he saw it, and he took a picture of it.”

It was a Notice of Termination of Tenancy and of re-entry of premises on non-payment of rent.

“Pursuant to a written lease dated Sept. 20, 2019, you are obligated to pay certain rents on the premises located at 78 Edward St. S.,” the letter reads. “You failed to pay rent totalling $13,428.55 for a period of 15 consecutive days. This rent was due on Sept. 1.”

While the closure has immediately put Cavanagh out of work, he says he’s more concerned about the Kenwood community.

“I’d like to reiterate, my concern for pursuing this matter, is less for myself, yes, our business has been interrupted, eight employees have lost their jobs, 500-ish members that have been locked out and another 500-ish users that come in to use the place for things like basketball, pickleball, volleyball,” Cavanagh said. “I really feel for these people that this has been taken away. And what affects me, is I had no control over it. It was a complete surprise. I did not expect it. I really feel, I know how people feel. I’m sure they’re angry. Some people lost their membership and that’s a financial thing. Some people lost their outlet for mental health. Some people are there socially, to meet their friends. It’s very difficult to comprehend. The reasons for this happening, don’t add up for me.”

Cavanagh released this statement to his clients.

“We were shocked and saddened as well,” it read. “KAC believed it was engaged in negotiations with our landlord, to extend or renew our lease. We will continue to pursue good faith negotiations in accordance with the terms of our lease.

“Being closed during the Covid pandemic for 12 out of 24 months proved to be quite difficult and the years since have not gotten much easier as our space sustained consistent damage due to major leaks in the roof and water pipes. The gymnasium floor installed in early 2019 has been ruined and requires extensive repairs as does the wood floor in our studio and squash court.

“Additionally, we have been unable to upgrade in our weight room and cardio area for fear of further damage. During this time we were in regular contact with the ownership group of the building, however, the disrepair and the damages have continued to this day.”

Cavanagh says he has not closed the door on the Kenwood Athletic Centre, and is speaking, through his lawyer, to the landlord Groupe Heafey – Commercial Space Leasing Ottawa-Gatineau, which is based out of Gatineau. They became the new landlords of the property in 2021.

Cavanagh says he doesn’t believe the landlord’s numbers are correct.

“I don’t feel it’s accurate,” he said. “They know what our position is. We were in ongoing negotiations for renewal. We put in a brand-new playing surface in the gymnasium (October 2023) and some other additions. We had invested some significant dollars in to the playing systems, squash court, dance studio, we signed a new lease in 2019, that gave us the first five years with a five year renewal at our option. From our perspective we had a good number of years available to us to use the space.”

Cavanagh says there isn’t much he can say on that side, until there is a resolution with the landlord, but he is continuing to work on it.

“We just posted that statement; we’ll have more to come,” he said. “The matter is with our attorneys. We hope for a resolution in the short term. Come to the table and work out what the issues are and I don’t feel that ever happened. To expect something that wasn’t there before, I guess there was lots of opportunity to do that before. We’ve been in that building since 1999. And our current location and size since 2005. We’ve been clients of that building for a long time for a reason. That’s a long time, and I feel that says a lot. We had pretty big plans for the future in Arnprior. I definitely feel like a David to their Goliath. I plan on going to bat as long as there is a solution.”