In Chapel Hill, the gym on Elliott Road will close by July 1, and the gym on N.C. 54/Farrington Road will be sold.

In Durham, the gym on U.S. 15-501 will remain open, at least for now.

It's another shake-up for thousands of Triangle gym goers who have seen many changes in recent years.

Charlotte-based Peak's troubles have been compounded by the economic slowdown's effect on consumers' budgets. But Peak has been plagued by other problems, including a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and state investigations. On Monday, a court issued an eviction notice for Peak's downtown Raleigh club.

Company President Jeff Stec confirmed that Peak locations in downtown Raleigh, North Raleigh and Cary will close by the end of the month. Those three gyms, along with the one in Fuquay-Varina, were involved in the bankruptcy of one of Peak's operators earlier this year.

Laura Haid, vice president for operations, confirmed the Elliott Road gym will close by July 1.

Chris Zoubek, who ran the Farrington Road gym as Millennium Health & Fitness, is repurchasing it. He plans to honor Elliott Road memberships for the rest of their term. After that former Peak members will be able to join the gym like anyone else at $24.99 a month.

The monthly arrangement "keeps us accountable," he said. "I want to make sure people want to stay here, as opposed to being stuck in a contract."

Peak plans to keep the Durham gym open, Haid said, but added that could change.

Peak was behind from the start in the Triangle because of the decision to purchase existing gyms, Stec said. The company started in Charlotte in 2000 and opened in the Triangle in late 2006.

"In this market, we ended up purchasing a bunch of facilities that were struggling," he said. "So basically we ended up inheriting a bunch of issues."

The changes do not affect other markets in which Peak operates, including Charlotte and the Triad, Stec said.

In January, Peak was ordered by the state Attorney General's Office to improve its customer service, contract and billing practices.

The Attorney General's Office had filed a lawsuit after 300 complaints about Peak closing gyms and transferring memberships to locations that did not offer comparable services.

In April, the operator of four Triangle-area Peak gyms filed for bankruptcy. And in May, the Knightdale store closed suddenly.

Staff writer Mark Schultz contributed to this story.

sue.stock@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4649

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

The state Attorney General's Office and Peak Fitness reached a settlement in January giving consumers additional rights.

If a Peak Fitness gym closes within 90 days after you entered into or renewed a contract with Peak, you can get a pro-rated refund from Peak.

To claim your refund, contact Peak Fitness.

Phone: (704) 896-5521

Fax: (704) 896-5741

E-mail: customerservice@peakfitnessus.com

Address: P.O. Box 2220, Davidson, NC 28036.

If you are still having trouble, you can file a complaint with the Attorney General's Office or call 877-566-7226.