Owner agrees to sell Nautilus Fitness Center to city of Spartanburg, ending 47 years in business

SPARTANBURG — The owner of Nautilus Fitness Center has finalized a deal to sell the business to the city of Spartanburg.

Nautilus is scheduled to close on Sept. 30 and all the exercise equipment is being sold. For owner John Lankford, this means retirement since he has no plans to reopen the business elsewhere in the city and is frustrated with being forced to sell.

“It was an agreement like someone holding a gun to your head,” Lankford told The Post and Courier. “It was like take this or we pull imminent domain and take your business whether you want us to or not.”

The business at 160 S. Church St., has been a fixture of downtown since 1987. A slew of supporters packed into a July city council meeting to voice their support for Nautilus. 

Lankford did not disclose Nautilus’ selling price to the city. City spokesman Christopher George said the purchase agreement’s paperwork has not been finalized but it will be in a few days. The city plans to use the site to build a new joint city-county government complex.

“Once that agreement is complete, the first phase of the work for the site would be beginning the stormwater and water and sewer infrastructure work that needs to take place to facilitate the actual development on that block,” George said.

Between 600 and 700 people have memberships at the 24/7 gym. Kenny Harris lives on the city’s east side and has been a gym member since 1978. He’s not sure where he will go to exercise after Nautilus closes later this month.

“I hate that it is closing,” Harris said. “I have been going here a long time because it has a great family atmosphere and the Lankfords are great people. It has been great for the downtown but I understand things happen and move forward.”

Lankford said he’s required to vacate the building by Oct. 31 based on the agreement. All customers’ bank drafts have been stopped and everyone who has paid through September will continue to use the facility. He had considered reopening at another location.

“They are not going to give us enough money to buy and upfit the building,” he said. “I found a building but they did not give us enough money.”

In June, the city offered to buy the business for $1.75 million based on a 2022 county-commissioned assessment that valued the property at $1.5 million. The city declined Sept. 17 to disclose how much it is paying for Nautilus.

Lankford placed a sign at Nautilus’ front desk announcing the sale of all exercise equipment. Despite the agreement, he remains angry about having to sell something he started 47 years ago.

“It has not been fair from the start,” Lankford said. “There is nobody happy about this. I paid my property taxes for 47 years and brought people downtown for many years. Downtown was a ghost town when I started and now it is growing and they want to develop it and want me to be gone.”

Nautilus was notified shortly after April 2022 that it would have to relocate from its South Church Street location since its property was within the scope of the new complex being planned by the city and county.

The city’s goal is to have the complex finished by the summer of 2027. The new building will be paid for by the 1 percent sales tax increase that county voters approved in 2017 to replace Spartanburg City Hall and the Spartanburg County Administration Building.

Conceptual designs for the new complex are still being developed and will be presented to Spartanburg City Council and Spartanburg County Council before the end of 2024.