WILMINGTON, DE — The Fitness Co. (TFC), which opened its first club in 1981, filed Chapter 11 petitions last month in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The filing comes after four consecutive years of losses and a failure to identify a third-party buyer, according to the Delaware Business Bankruptcy Report. The debtors will propose to sell their assets, under section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code, to TFC Acquisition Corp., which is a wholly owned entity by one of the debtors' secured lenders and also is an affiliate of the debtors, according to the report.

TFC's first club was known as the Executive Fitness Center, located on the top two floors of the Vista International Hotel in what was the World Trade Center in New York. The club reached maximum capacity within two years, and not long after, Simon & Schuster's “Complete Health Club Handbook” called the Executive Fitness Center “by far the most impressive corporate fitness facility in the country.”

TFC's Web site lists 12 club locations in five states-Connecticut, Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey and New York-and the District of Columbia.

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