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Sportsquest’s lease terminated by landlord

Posted at 7:31 PM, Feb 29, 2012
and last updated 2012-02-29 21:14:55-05

CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WTVR)--Carns Properties has terminated SportsQuest’s lease at its training center on Oak Lake Boulevard.

Christopher Robinson works for RISE, or Richmond Indoor Sports Experience and is facility director for the training site that SportsQuest was evicted from.

“It was due to lack of payment. We just wanted to move forward with the facility and we want to try and help it grow for the future. It just didn’t look like it would have a future with the partnership we had with SportsQuest so we cut our ties” said Robinson.

CBS 6 News stopped by the building on Wednesday and it wasn’t completely empty. Others like Kirstan Fournier and Stacy Pawluk are still working out there.

Their Stroller Strides group pays SportsQuest weekly to use the building. Pawluk says she paid owner Steve Burton as recently as last week.

She says they suspected something wasn’t right last week when their group of moms showed up and most of the doors were locked. She says they let themselves in a side door only to find no SportsQuest employees in sight.

Fournier says the only person working that week was owner Steve Burton. CBS 6 has not been able to reach him for comment on this story.  Fournier tells us she asked Burton what was going on and he responded that he had no idea why there were no employees there.

“I just feel bad for the members. The people who have paid money to work out here and they rely on this facility” said Fournier.

Pawluk says she’s been in direct contact with the landlord and he assures her that her group, Stroller Strides can continue to rent the space in the building. She says she will now pay Carns Properties directly, instead of Steve Burton and SportsQuest.

“We’re doing our best to work with them.,” said Robinson, about the members who have paid and find the facility closed.  “We want to make sure that we work hard to make things right with the members.”

Robinson said that so many different people have paid and that they all “hopefully get their money back through the state.”

“We at least want to give them something,” added Robinson. “Let them come in and use the soccer fields, work out, treadmills, classes. We will give them something back.”