The long-anticipated East Atlanta Family Fitness Center that was to have opened Aug. 1 in the old Ace Hardware store, may not happen after all.

Landowner Brent Cunningham has given the gym owners until Thursday to vacate the property.

Last week, he hired Ray Nestlehutt, a commercial real estate broker with Richard Bowers & Co. to begin marketing the 11,360-square-foot property at 1231 Glenwood Ave.

It's not entirely clear why the gym didn't open by its target date of Aug. 1, though the project was said to have hit some permitting issues it couldn't overcome by opening time.

No one returned a telephone call Tuesday seeking comment.

The gym also has a twitter account, but as of Tuesday afternoon, it didn't appear as if anyone connected with it had tweeted at all.

Some work had begun in the building's interior earlier in the spring, but the space hasn't seen any activity in weeks.

While it's possible the both sides could come to some 11th-hour agreement before Thursday, that seems remote.

Nestlehutt said he's already received four calls, including one formal proposal from groups based here and as far as New York and Chicago.

Though still in the early stages of marketing, Nestlehutt said one proposed concept calls for a specialty grocery/gourmet farmers' market and restaurant for the space.

The preference for the space is to lease it to one tenant, Nestlehutt said, but the owner is open to dividing the building to accommodate two tenants.

Any deal would have to be for at least a five-year term with per-square-foot lease rate running between the high teens to low $20s, he said.