Personal Injury Attorneyin Georgetown, SC.

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WCSC) - Known for its rich maritime history, Georgetown County has announced its game plan to bring in redevelopment, while also embracing its roots.

The Georgetown Ports deeded their around 40-acre property at no cost over to the county in June of last year. They officially closed this deal at the end of last month. The Georgetown Ports make up the last undeveloped coastal community in South Carolina and Georgetown County is hoping to change that.

Georgetown County Councilor Bob Anderson says he’s been in the county since the 1970s and says this plan has been a long time coming.

“Hopefully, it will be - we’ll use it for commerce,” Anderson said. “It won’t be my decision alone. I’ve only got one vote out of seven. I want to see jobs here, for paying jobs.”

The Georgetown Ports property has not been used since 2016 and when the acres were handed over last year, county officials began doing their due diligence on what needs to be done. They discovered from an outside contractor that they will have to fund $13.6 million to fix deficiencies on the existing port structures.

However, that’s not in their current budget.

Their economic development director, Tiffany Harrison, says although the funding will take some time to get, it’s not something that has to be done in a day.

“We start prioritizing what are the biggest concerns that we need to address,” Harrison said. “Then, we can start looking for funding opportunities and partnerships.”

The county has also identified environmental concerns that will need to be addressed.

“They’re not terrible,” Harrison said. “They’re not things that would keep this property from being redeveloped. It’s just they’re going to be specific ways we have to address redevelopment based on the findings in certain areas.”

Harrison says the sky is the limit for what’s to come at the ports, while not knocking out any option of commercial, industrial or even residential land.

The county will be putting together a team of consultants to create a comprehensive master plan next. Anderson says they probably won’t have a timeline for when the full project will be completed for another 12-18 months.

“I’m just trying to do everything I can do to make it what it needs to be in the time I’ve got left on this Earth,” Anderson said.

Harrison and other Georgetown County officials deem this property as the “land of opportunity.”

“If done properly, this can be a place that everybody in Georgetown can be proud of,” Harrison said. “That they’ll want to share with their family. That they’ll want to share with the world.”

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

According to a report from the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, in the early morning of April 12, his car was involved in a high-speed chase.

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Family, friends and law enforcement officials continue their search for a missing Georgetown County man.

Daniel Altman was last seen on April 11.

According to a report from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office, in the early morning of April 12, his car was involved in a high-speed chase.

After running the car’s plates to confirm the car was stolen, deputies attempted a traffic stop but the driver did not pull over, according to the report. A pursuit then took place, reaching speeds of 115 mph.

The report states the chase ended when the driver pulled into the backyard of a private residence.

The passenger of the car, Javon Chattine, fled from the car, running into the woods, according to the report. He was caught and placed under arrest.

The driver of the car, Serenity Jackson, did not flee and was transported to Georgetown County Detention Center and was charged with a DUI along with other charges.

Daniel was not in the car and is still missing, and deputies said they have not determined how the suspects in the chase got ahold of Daniel’s car.

Daniel’s sister, Caroline Altman, said right now the family is in fight-or-flight mode. She said their main focus is finding Daniel.

“We just want someone that knows something to say something,” Caroline said.

Caroline said Daniel is the type of person that would go out of his way to help anyone else. She said if you needed help with anything, you could call Daniel and he will be there.

“Daniel wouldn’t quit on me, and he wouldn’t quit on any of his friends, so we aren’t going to quit on him,” Caroline said.

Now, Daniel’s family and his friends want answers.

Caroline said finding out Daniel’s car was involved in a high-speed chase was very concerning for their family because they have no connection to the suspects in the case.

She said Daniel worked hard for that car- saving money from a young age.

“Daniel would not willingly give someone his car,” Caroline said.

Daniel works at Texas Roadhouse and would get off late at night. She said on the night of April 10, he said he was headed to Kingstree to meet a woman.

But she said she doesn’t know anyone in Kingstree, and that Daniel did not normally hang out there or have friends in that area.

“We know that Daniel wouldn’t run away. He has a house, a job, a car, a job. He wouldn’t just leave all these things behind and not say anything to us or his friends,” Caroline said.

She said she has no idea where her little brother is and would give anything to hear him call her ‘sissy’ again.

“It’s just heartbreaking to think that I may never hear him say that again,” Caroline said.

Anyone who knows anything is asked to call the Georgetown County Sheriff’s office at 843-546-5102.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

GEORGETOWN — A group of Georgetown property owners filed a lawsuit against the city on June 1 that accuses current and former officials of pursuing a gentrification campaign to force poor residents out of the West End neighborhood.

The lawsuit alleges city officials enacted “several overreaching ordinances” and made decisions based on “ordinances that do not exist or are enforced in an overreaching and offensive manner.”

The plaintiffs contend the city’s intent is to remake the demographics of the historically Black West End community.

“The City of Georgetown began a Gentrification of the West End of the City of Georgetown in the early 2000’s,” the lawsuit states. “As a result of that gentrification, many of the residents in the West End of the City were denied property rights, had their property destroyed and were subjected to deprivation of their constitutional rights under the Constitution of the United States and South Carolina.”

The city’s West End “used to be integrated,” the lawsuit states, adding that the city intends for “wealthier residents (to) take over and expel the poor people of color.”

The plaintiffs in the case are Tony Vanderhorst, Evelyn McCray and Willie Singleton. Each is described in court records as a Georgetown County resident who owns land within the city limits.

“The Plaintiff, Singleton specifically, has spoken out against the City for its violations of his rights and the rights of others in the City [as it] moves forward with retaliation for exercising his right to free speech,” the lawsuit states. “Ms. McCray and Mr. Vanderhorst have had their property rights interfered with by the City through its City Council and the Building Officials.”

The lawsuit names 15 defendants: the city of Georgetown, former Mayor Brendon Barber and incumbent Mayor Carol Jayroe, all six members of the Georgetown City Council, former Georgetown City Council members Tupelo Humes and Al Joseph, City Administrator Sandra Yúdice, interim City Director of Planning and Community Development Robert Cox, former City Zoning and Building Administrator Rick Martin and building official Ryan Call.

The lawsuit states that Vanderhorst, in attempting to relocate a mobile home from North Charleston to Winyah Street in Georgetown in 2022, was confronted by “issues created by the City in order to gentrify the West End and harm the owners of the property to eliminate their ability to use their property in violation of the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of South Carolina.”

The lawsuit alleges that Call required Vanderhorst to provide unnecessary information after issuing a stop work order that was “unwarranted.”

McCray alleged in the lawsuit that a requirement by Call that she obtain an engineer’s report for the floor of a kitchen trailer cost her “several thousand dollars” despite not being required by law.

″(T)he City’s intent is to eliminate all trailers on the West End in their gentrification scheme to improve the city and eliminate the poor community,” the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit further alleges that Cox has allowed Call to work as a building official without proper licensing and that Cox holds a conflict of interest by working as a city official and a “commercial consultant pulling building permits under his company.”

Singleton filed a complaint with the S.C. Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation in February that accused Cox of lending his license to Call, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit deems Call’s actions similar to those of Martin, who allegedly “interfered with the rights of the Plaintiffs” until he permanently surrendered his license to work as a building official in South Carolina in November 2022. Martin surrendered his license in lieu of a disciplinary hearing after a complaint of “professional misconduct” was made against him to the S.C. Building Codes Council.

Georgetown City Public Information Officer Cindy Thompson said the city had not been served as of the early afternoon of June 6 and therefore had not been able to review the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages in the lawsuit, as well as attorney fees and for the defendants to “cease and desist their harassment and deprivation of rights.”

GEORGETOWN — An Australian firm plans to purchase Georgetown’s downtown steel mill, potentially preserving one of the coastal city’s longtime factories and dozens of jobs.

InfraBuild, which is run by the parent company of the mill’s current owner, announced May 29 that the company had closed on a $350 million loan to buy GFG Alliance’s American-based steel industry assets, which includes Liberty Steel USA’s plant. No date was released on when the sale could be completed.

James Sanderson, president of United Steelworkers Local 7898, said that after speaking with the potential new owners that the mill, a mainstay of Front and South Fraser streets for over half a century, is in Georgetown to stay.

“We’re just very excited about this transition,” Sanderson said.

InfraBuild did not respond to a request for comment May 31. GFG Alliance declined to comment.

Georgetown’s economy relied heavily on the lumber industry in the early 20th century before the arrival of International Paper’s plant in 1936. Georgetown Steel helped further diversify the community’s industrial base in the late 1960s, but the mill cycled through various owners and changes in the industry that reduced its workforce before it was purchased by Liberty Steel in 2017.

The plant that makes steel wire used in tires and bridge cables closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic but started operating again in January 2022 with about 65 workers, well below the hundreds of employees that made the plant one of the city’s largest employers.

The reopening, however, was challenged under a city ordinance that would rezone the plant site if operations ceased for a year. The mill is near Georgetown’s main business district and the 50-acre plant site is considered a prime spot for tourism development. But Liberty and its supporters defeated rezoning efforts.

The mill’s owner recently announced a workforce expansion of more than 50 percent.

Sanderson said he has met with InfraBuild in the past, but he had not spoken with the company’s interim CEO, Dak Patel, since the May 29 announcement. Sanderson said he’s confident company representatives will visit the city and mill soon.

“They will be looking at it and examining and looking at all the capital improvements that could be done at our facility here in Georgetown,” Sanderson said.

Patel said in a May 29 statement that the new financing will allow Infrabuild “to continue to grow our business and service a customer base which spans the infrastructure, commercial and residential construction, agriculture and mining markets.”

InfraBuild’s presence in the United States consists of a pair of recycling sites in LaPlace, La., and Tampa, Fla.

Other GFG-owned businesses that could be involved in the acquisition are manufacturer Keystone Consolidated Industries and Pennsylvania-based Johnstown Wire Technologies.

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that the company buying the Georgetown steel mill is run by the parent company of the mill’s current owner.

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WPDE) — Fresh off of plans to expand work at the LIBERTY Steel plant in Georgetown, mill owners appear to be preparing to sell the plant to a partnering company.

READ MORE: Liberty Steel announces growth plan for Georgetown Mill with roughly 40 new jobs

InfraBuild announced on May 29 the closing of a $350 million Asset-Backed Term Loan, the proceeds of which will enable the business to pursue 'growth objectives' that include its potential acquisition of steel assets in the United States currently owned by GFG Alliance.

According to a press release, InfraBuild is Australia's largest vertically integrated steel long manufacturer with recycling, manufacturing, and distribution operations across the country. It is a business unit of the United Kingdom-based GFG Alliance.

READ MORE: Workers discuss future of Liberty Steel's Georgetown facility

Jefferies LLC acted as the sole arranger on the Asset-Backed Term Loan, which was led by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and Silver Point Finance.

InfraBuild Interim CEO and Managing Director Dak Patel said:

This financing provides strategic capital to InfraBuild, which will enable us to continue to grow our business and service a customer base which spans the infrastructure, commercial and residential construction, agriculture and mining markets.

"The business has continued to perform strongly throughout this financial year and the Asset-Backed Term Loan provides us with capital to focus on strategic initiatives to strengthen operations and capitalise on the growing demand for lower carbon sustainable steel as we continue the momentum we've built in recent years."

According to a news release, the firm lists Peoria, Illinois-based Keystone Consolidated Industries (KCI) as a targeted asset, which operates an EAF melt shop, rolling mill, and wire mill in that city, as well as mesh manufacturing sites under the Engineered Wire Products name in Ohio and New Mexico.

Also on the potential shopping list is Johnstown Wire Technologies, which has plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the Liberty Steel plant in Georgetown.

GFG Alliance owner Sanjeev Gupta also sits on the board of directors for InfraBuild.

"It's basically an internal transaction," said a spokesperson for GFG Alliance and Liberty Steel USA. "It continues to do, the things we announced; the second shift, the mesh all of that stuff still moving forward. The public is not going to see anything different."