The operators of the C5 Fitness, 1510 Martin St., were forced to close its doors at noon Friday because of a debt of more than $1 million in unpaid rent, the Centre County sheriff said.

Centre County Sheriff Denny Nau said his office closed the facility because Harrisburg-based Mushin Inc., which owns C5 Fitness, had not paid rent on the building since August.

Nau said the rent on the building was $13,000 per month and had not been paid for at least three months. He added the amount owed increased to more than $1 million because when rent is not paid for a period of time, the full amount remaining on the lease of the building is due. In this case, that brought the amount up considerably.

Nau said he was unsure how long the rent must go unpaid before the owners are required to start paying the amount remaining on the property's lease, but in this case, it happened after missing three months of rent.

The exact amount owed is $1,138,184, Nau said.

Nau said the owners of the building are David and Sandy Corneal, who were the former owners of The Athletic Club.

Neither could be reached by press time yesterday.

Nau said the building is currently locked and will remain so until the two parties resolve the issue.

"Next, what will happen is we will give them the opportunity to work this out," Nau said.

"Either Mushin Inc. can pay the Corneals and resolve it that way and it will be over, or if the amount is not paid by anyone, we will set up a date for a sale and sell all of the equipment from the facility in a public auction."

Calls to Mushin Inc., were not returned by press time.