Issues with SC beachfront condo complex were known years before evacuation, lawsuit says
The structural repair project to address concerns with the foundation of the Renaissance Tower had begun just days before an engineer found the damage was severe enough to warrant a full evacuation of the 22-story condo complex overseeing Horry County beachfront.
But that same engineer had warned the building’s board of directors more than five years earlier that those steel components supporting the high-rise structure needed repairs, according to several condo owners who are now either displaced or forced to forgo needed rental income.
Those owners were already facing a combined bill for repairs exceeding $2 million that is sure to increase given the latest developments, and a group of them are laying the blame squarely on the negligence of the complex’s board members, according to a class action lawsuit filed last week in federal court.
The board members knew for years that the steel beams were deteriorating and that deterioration would continue to worsen the longer they delayed repairs, according to the complaint.
The board’s chairman, who is named in the complaint, and the building’s management company, which is not named, did not respond to requests for an interview.
Invoking Florida condo collapse
The circumstances surrounding the deterioration of the Renaissance Tower’s foundational structure are “frighteningly similar” to those preceding the collapse last year of the Champlain Towers South condo complex in Surfside, Florida, the lawsuit asserts.
The 12-story, 39-year-old building in Florida collapsed June 24, 2021, killing 98 people — one of the deadliest building failures in modern history, according to the Miami Herald.
“Like the (Surfside building) that collapsed, the Renaissance Tower building is a high-rise condominium building abutting the beach and Atlantic Ocean ... structurally supported by steel and concrete (that) has steadily corroded and weakened over time,” the complaint states.
The exact cause of the Champlain Towers South collapse is still under federal investigation, but a Miami Herald investigation found several factors, including issues with the original construction plan, likely contributed.
That tragedy prompted the Renaissance Tower board members to reevaluate its own steel structures, according to the complaint, and an engineer was hired in 2021 to draw up repair plans that began earlier this month.
Evacuated indefinitely
The evacuation was ordered Oct. 7, with Horry County Code Enforcement posting a sign outside the building that it was deemed unsafe and its occupancy has been prohibited. The residents and their guests were only given about an hour to gather their belongings and leave, according to the complaint, and they haven’t been allowed back since.
Kristie Goodall, who owns a unit in the building but is not currently a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said she wasn’t there when the building was evacuated and didn’t see the email explaining the situation until the complex was already blocked.
“When I first found out, I thought it would be temporary,” she said. “But as time went on, ... the less I heard from the board, the more anxiety I felt, and frustration.”
A laptop, credit cards and personal documents are among the items she wishes she could retrieve, but the board and building management company have given owners no estimate of when they’ll be allowed back inside, Goodall said.
The condo is her primary residence, so she had to rent a room at another building within Myrtle Beach Resort, but she got a good deal on the rental because several owners of nearby properties wanted to help those who were displaced. Others, the lawsuit notes, were forced to purchase tents and live in the nearby Ocean Lakes Campground.
The condo complex’s board held a virtual meeting last week to answer questions, Goodall said, but the only helpful information they offered was that they believe the building can be repaired. No timeline of cost estimate was known.
Goodall just purchased the condo in March with no knowledge of the building’s apparent structural issues, and she’s already been assessed about $9,000 for the planned repair project.
Those assessments ranged from $3,700-$9,270 per unit, according to the lawsuit, which notes the board had less than $1.3 million in available reserve funds — a “grossly insufficient” amount for a 322-unit beachfront building constructed nearly 40 years ago.
Goodall said she was concerned those assessments, plus whatever additional costs are added due to the increased severity of the issues found, will be problematic for her retired neighbors on fixed incomes.
Addressing the issue statewide
She added that she’s happy the structural issues are getting addressed, and she’s hopeful the attention this situation has drawn will lead to changes that prevent future catastrophes.
State Rep. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston, introduced legislation last session to create a “Coastal Structural Stability Study Committee” to study the structural integrity of buildings six floors or more along the state’s coast and along the Charleston peninsula in response to the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida.
South Carolina’s current building code regulations do not require any additional inspections once construction has been completed unless someone files a complaint or raises questions about the safety of a building, according to previous McClatchy reporting. Local governments have the power to enact additional regulations, but many do not.
The bill languished in the House Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry, but Gilliard told The Sun News Tuesday that he plans to pre-file the same legislation for the next session.
Gilliard said any legislation with financial impacts is often taboo in South Carolina, but money shouldn’t supersede safety concerns, and he’s concerned more building failures will lead to more deaths if the state isn’t proactive.
This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 1:33 PM.
