A city building has over $20K in unpaid rent. It’s in the Arts & Innovations District
A downtown Myrtle Beach business has unpaid rent and is being asked to leave their city-own space in the next few days.
According to information provided by lead city spokesperson Meredith Denari, ESA Fitness at 515 9th Ave N, has $20,156.69 in unpaid rent and was given two weeks to vacate the property on April 1.
“Despite previous notices and attempts to work with the business owner to get him on the right track over several months, payment has not been received,” she wrote in an email to The Sun News.
Denari confirmed that no other businesses in city-owned buildings on 9th Ave have a backlog of rent owed at this time.
“There’s no other reason the tenant is vacating the building, though, other than he is very behind on rent and defaulting on his lease,” she said.
The city will not be going through eviction proceedings because the owner agreed to vacate the property voluntarily due to his failure to pay rent, according to Denari.
The business owner was given his 15 day notice on April 1 to vacate the premises by April 15.
ESA Fitness’s owner, Terrance Butler, did not want to comment about what’s going on between him and the city over the phone on Wednesday afternoon.
How much do other downtown places pay in rent?
According to Denari, here’s a breakdown of how much each of the downtown businesses pay in rent to the city:
- ESA Fitness (513 Ninth Avenue North) - $3,540 (including taxes and insurance), 4,896 sq. feet.
- Le Manna Bread Co. (507 Ninth Avenue North) - $1,613.04 (vacates end of this month, I think this also includes taxes and insurance).
- Winna’s Kitchen (507 Ninth Avenue North) - $2,875 (including taxes, insurance and $500 per month for FF&E).
- Dolly Llama (505 Unit B, Ninth Avenue North) - $1,913.66 (including taxes and insurance)
- Tasting Room on 9th (505 Unit A, Ninth Avenue North) - $1,948.33 (including taxes and insurance)
- HTC Aspire Hub,eMYRge (509 Ninth Avenue North) - $2,350 + CPI with cap at 5% (CPI=Consumer Price Index), base rent only
- Transperfect Translations International (517 Ninth Avenue North, formerly city offices) - $2,673 (including taxes and insurance)
This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 7:40 AM.
