Inlet Square Mall

Inlet Square Mall is a 434,482-square-foot (40,364.7 m2) single-level regional shopping center in Garden City, South Carolina, United States. Belk is the last major anchor with junior anchor Planet Fitness and with two vacant major anchors last occupied by Kmart, JCPenney, and vacant junior anchors last occupied by Stein Mart and Books-A-Million.

Inlet Square Mall
Entrance to Inlet Square Mall, August 2011
LocationGarden City, South Carolina, United States
Coordinates33°34′51″N 79°1′32″W
Address10125 Hwy 17 Bypass
Murrells Inlet, SC 29576
Opening date1990 (1990)
DeveloperCBL Properties
OwnerInlet Square Investments, LLC
No. of stores and services2 (formerly 45)
No. of anchor tenants6 (3 Major and 3 Minor), (2 Open and the rest vacant)
Total retail floor area434,482 sq ft (40,364.7 m2)
No. of floors1

After the opening of a Walmart Supercenter in Garden City, Kmart closed in late April 2014.[1] On January 7, 2015, it was announced that one of the mall's two main anchor stores, JCPenney, would be closing in March of that year.[2] A Planet Fitness opened in place of the former Ladies Choice fitness center in May 2015.[3] The mall's Stein Mart location closed in September due to Urban retail not working with them to try extending their 2015 lease at Inlet Square. 2015,[4] so Urban Retail let Steinmart leave to can relocate to the South Strand Commons shopping center near Surfside Beach, the new location opened in October 2015.[5]

History

Inlet Square was built in 1990 by CBL Properties. It was the area's largest mall, slightly larger than the now demolished Myrtle Square Mall. The mall was bought in the early 2000s. It was originally going to be redesigned similarly to the successful Broadway at the Beach. With those plans falling through, a $4.5 million remodeling project began in 2007. This was the first renovation in the mall's history, and had been much needed since the massive 1.3 million square-foot (120,000 m2) Coastal Grand Mall opened in 2004. The renovations weren't complete until 2011 due to financial hardships and loss of foot traffic. During this time, the mall lost most of its long time tenants, including the 12-screen Regal Cinemas, in 2010. In 2011, Franks Cinebowl and Grill opened a new complex in the former Regal Cinemas, bringing new life to the mall. In 2014, the mall lost Kmart, which opened with the original mall in 1990, and also gained a Planet Fitness location in the former Ladies Choice location. In 2015, the mall was hit with two more tenant losses, with the closures of JC Penney and Stein Mart. This leaves Belk, Planet Fitness, and Books-A-Million as the only stores left in the mall.

On October 13, 2013, the owners of Inlet Square Mall, Murrells Retail Associates, a fictitious name under parent Company, RAIT Financial Trust, sued Frank Theaters for failing to make lease payments on time on several occasions. The theater chain owed the mall $201,363 in unpaid rent and is asking a judge to accelerate nearly $24 million worth of payments which is due under a 20-year lease agreement that was signed in 2011.[6] The Frank Theaters and CineBowl that were located in the Inlet Square closed suddenly at midnight on May 14, 2016 with no notice to the public after being in business for five years.[7][8]

On March 31, 2018, RAIT Financial Trust defaulted on its lease by not paying their five year Overage Payment of $328,000 to the landlord. RAIT refused to pay the landlord its monthly rent of $45,000 in June, July, August and September. The landlord hired a litigation attorney immediately since RAIT was pocketing all the tenant rents. During this time of waiting on a rule by the SC judge, RAIT remained in Inlet Square Mall now owing four months rent to the landlord. The landlord won in court and a court summons was ruled for RAIT to be evicted, September 30,2018, even though RAIT FINANCIAL TRUST Mall said they left voluntarily. RAIT was never planning to leave voluntarily and would have continued to not pay rents while keeping all the income if not for their eviction. See Horry County court records as proof. No citation needed. On May 13 2020, WBTW News reported that Books-A-Million had closed.[9]

On February of 2023, the 50 thousand square foot mall which sits on around 60 acres of land was purchased by Inlet Square Investments LLC for $6 million. On October 9, 2023, it was revealed that the company plans to do extensive demolition 70% to 80% of the mall, adding new buildings and making site improvements. It was noted that Planet Fitness as well as Belk currently open at the Mall are expected to stay following the redevelopment. There are plans make the official announcement soon to clarify more specifics of the project. [10][11]

Current tenants

Reconstruction

F + F Development began reconstruction on the mall in 2012 in an attempt to make it similar to the popular outdoor shopping center Broadway at the Beach. The construction caused F + F Development to go into bankruptcy, and RAIT Financial Trust took over the collateral as ownership and operators of Inlet Square Mall due toF & F Development default on the large Loan owed to Rait Financial Trust. Although managed by Urban retail later years, RAIT Financial Trust was always the actual owner until they stopped paying rent to their landlord, West C Street Holdings, LLC as of June 2018 for 4 months until evicted. But all 4 months RAIT Financial Trust pocketed all the mall rent, kept all the tenants Security Deposits ( $11,760) with the excuse of "we spent it" and RAIT skipped out on paying their share of 9 months occupying the building for 2018 Horry County Property Taxes($127,000). All of this totaled $627k loss for West C Street Holdings, LLC in which in 2020 the motion ruled in Horry County Court as RAIT Financial Trust Attorney, Robert Jordan, admitted they currently owe West C Street Holdings $510,870.60 and understands this confession does not end the case and will continue whether RAIT regroups through Bankruptcy or not - there's still money in their hands. West C Street was forced to take over the operations of the mall after RAIT Financial Trust had let the mall fail by losing many tenants since they did not know how to operate a mall and this was further financial damage to West C Street and the mall.

References
  1. "Kmart closing store in Murrells Inlet | Business | MyrtleBeachOnline.com". Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  2. Bryant, Dawn. "J.C. Penney to close store in Inlet Square Mall". The Sun News. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  3. "Planet Fitness to open at Inlet Square Mall". WMBF-TV. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  4. "South Strand job fair Thursday, revitalization plans for the future". www.wmbfnews.com. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  5. "Newly opened Stein Mart brings more growth to South Strand". www.wmbfnews.com. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  6. "Inlet Square Mall owners suing theater chain over unpaid rent". myrtlebeachonline. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
  7. "Frank Theatres, entertainment center shut down at Inlet Square and it backfires on Rait when all of Inlet squares area customers begin going to coastal Grande Mall in Mb because they have a movie theatre. Mall". myrtlebeachonline. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
  8. Roberson, Ian Cross, Josh. "Frank Theatres in Murrells Inlet closes permanently". Retrieved 2018-02-08.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. "Inlet Square Mall businesses hopeful for new plans after COVID-19". WBTW. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  10. Merriman, Kate (2019-10-09). "Developers to bring new life, major changes to Inlet Square Mall". www.wmbfnews.com. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  11. Morse, Ben (2023-10-13). "The Inlet Square Mall could be getting redeveloped. Here's what we know so far". The Sun News. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.