Redmond gym owner struggles amid shutdown, faces eviction

Eviction moratorium was extended for residential properties, but not commercial, back in September

REDMOND, Ore (KTVZ) — Fitness 1440 in Redmond, like so many other gyms in Oregon, has been hit hard by COVID-19 restrictions.

Due to the current mandate from the governor, they're closed now. But unlike the last time they shut down, this time, there's no safety net of an eviction moratorium.

The only classes owner Joy Benson can have at her gym are with her kids.

"At the end of December, it will have been five months now that we've been mandated to be closed in the nine since this has all began," Benson told NewsChannel 21 on Tuesday.

And when her gym was allowed to reopen, she was making just 40 percent of normal revenue.

"You do everything you can with cleaning to ensure— classes, we're not allowed to have classes, so those have dropped away," Benson said.

She was able to defer some of her rent during the months she was closed during the first shutdown, thanks to the eviction moratorium.

"We were supposed to somehow make up the lost revenue of the five (months),” Benson said. “But we're operating at less capacity."

Now, the treadmills are silent and the weights are stacked, because Fitness 1440 isn't operating at all.

Making matters worse, Gov. Kate Brown's eviction moratorium wasn't extended for commercial properties.

Benson paid rent for the months the gym was open, including November, before the governor's new restrictions.

A month of rent on the property is over $10,000.

"In December, instead of dropping rent by, I dropped off a packet, and that packet entailed all of these details," Benson said.

She got no response until Monday.

"I was given an email last night that if I did not turn in my rent for December, that they will start the eviction process," Benson said.

A request for comment to Benson's landlord through the property management company has not been returned.

But Benson has no hard feelings toward the property manager.

"They are just representing an individual that is neglecting to see this for the immensity that is," she said.

For now, will she meet the deadline on Friday?

"It's a really tough … I'm really up in the air about it," she said.