Reclaim Your Love of Life with Hormone Replacement Therapy in Charleston, SC

When some structural concerns prompted last year's temporary closure of the Peoples Building in downtown Charleston, we repeated a message we have echoed since the fatal collapse of a 13-story condominium north of Miami in 2021: South Carolina needs rules to ensure that our tall, coastal buildings are regularly inspected and well-maintained so the public is not put at risk.

And just last week, after an engineering company told the board of the Dockside Condominiums homeowners association that the tall building's "safety margin is too low for the continued safe occupancy," city officials gave its residents 48 hours to move out. There is currently no projection as to when residents will be able to move back in, as the engineering company's letter said the building is "overstressed" and needs "substantial structural strengthening."

It wasn't a surprise, given that safety concerns over the building's structural integrity began to make news in February 2023, but last week's conclusion shows the situation is more dire than first thought. Our sympathies go out to the many residents of Dockside's 112 units who were shocked to learn they suddenly had to leave their building and scramble to find a suitable place to live for an unknown amount of time. The building's concrete floorplates aren't the only things under stress.

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates noted that about 587 of the 700 junctions where the building's support columns meet concrete slabs have not been tested, and they cannot be tested without a certain amount of demolition inside individual units. A city spokeswoman said the problems appear to stem from the building's initial construction 50 years ago, not deterioration or corrosion, though the building's harbor-front location gives it a steady coating of salty spray. And saltwater, if it reaches rebar supports inside concrete columns or slabs, can lead to cracks, spalling and eventually failure.

The 19-story building is an uncommon feature on the historic peninsula's skyline; it was built before the city's height ordinance applied to this part of the peninsula, back when the surrounding area was dominated by public housing, port operations and a marine supply store inside a former power plant. Today, the neighborhood includes museums, pricy condominiums and one of downtown's larger parks.

But it's not uncommon in that it's one of many tall 20th-century structures along our coast whose construction predates current codes and whose level of maintenance has varied over time.

In one sense, the story of Dockside and the Peoples Building shows the current system is working, as both ownership groups apparently commissioned inspections and acted proactively and responsibly when concerning structural issues were found.

But in another sense, it also shows the vulnerability of these imposing and seemingly sound structures. Elsewhere along our coast, the 22-story oceanfront Renaissance Tower at Myrtle Beach Resort was evacuated for months after structural engineers determined that its steel foundation was unsafe, the Kingfisher Inn in Garden City was evacuated last March until needed repairs were made, and the city of Charleston's Wentworth Garage was deemed to have sufficient corrosion and structural flaws to render it essentially not cost effective to fix. It's set to be torn down and replaced with something new.

Meanwhile, almost directly across the Charleston peninsula from Dockside, a multimillion-dollar project to remove the failing brick exterior of the Ashley House condominiums has bogged down, as the condominium owners disagreed on a repair plan and instead went to court.

We need a public conversation about whether South Carolina's state and local governments are doing enough to monitor the safety of our high-rise buildings, particularly those in or near our corrosive, salty coastal environments. Our state has more than 500 tall structures close enough to the coast to face heightened risk of saltwater corrosion, almost half of which are entering middle age.

It's human nature that some homeowners are quick to repair a leak as soon as they spot it, while others defer work or patch things over without addressing the real problem. When it comes to a single-family home, the owners are usually the only ones at risk, and the safety risk is minimal because most homes are relatively small. But when human nature delays needed work on large multistory concrete-and-steel buildings, countless others can be placed in harm's way.

Harm's way doesn't involve only the risk of death, although that is a real risk that building owners impose on others; it's also the risk of significant inconveniences such as those the Dockside residents are enduring, when buildings are closed to minimize the larger risk. If regular inspections were required, as they are in Florida, and if there were mechanisms to require repairs sooner, those repairs could be made faster and with less disruption, offsetting not only the danger to human life but also the cost of those repairs.

As we saw last week, this problem is not going away — and in fact might just now be getting here.

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LOWCOUNTRY, S.C. (WCIV) — UPDATE (6:00 a.m. Tuesday) According to the SCFC interactive map, the wildfire in the Carolina Forest area has grown to include 2,059 acres total, however, the blaze is reportedly 30% contained.

UPDATE (6:00 p.m. Monday) First responders are still working to contain the Carolina Forest fire, while others have yet to be confirmed in Berkeley County and Williamsburg County with 0 acres reported as burned as of 6 p.m.

UPDATE: (6:00 a.m. Monday) Fire Officials with Central Berkeley Fire and EMS report that there are currently eight reported wildfires, and all eight have either been controlled or contained. Conditions however, still do persist and the situation changes minute by minute. They state that the future of the wildfires depends on the weather conditions for the week.

UPDATE: (6:00 p.m.) The SCFC said the Carolina Forest fire has expanded to 1,600 acres and is 30% contained. The Lewis Ocean Bay fire is marked as contained on the interactive wildfire map.

UPDATE: (3:30 p.m.) The Orangeburg County fire near Pooh Lane has been upgraded to an active fire, according to the SCFC map.

UPDATE: (1:30 p.m.) A fire has been reported in Orangeburg County near Pooh Lane. SCFC has yet to confirm it as active.

UPDATE: (1:00 p.m.) An active fire near Huger has been 100% contained and downgraded to controlled. SCFC reports it was around 3 acres large.

UPDATE: (11:30 a.m.) A reported fire near Huger in Berkeley County as been upgraded to active by the South Carolina Forestry Commission near Bess Lane. News 4 has crews en route.

The active fire in Colleton County has been downgraded to contained.

UPDATE: (11:15 a.m.) The Charleston County fire reported as active in McClellanville has been removed from the wildfire map. News 4 crews searched the area and found no active fire.

UPDATE: (10:30 a.m.) The Berkeley County fire has been reported as contained, while new active fires have been reported in Clarnedon County near Salem Road and Kershaw County near Oak Ridge Church Road.

(ORIGINAL/10:00 a.m.) - Over 100 wildfires have been reported across South Carolina since Friday, with 6 remaining active into Sunday morning, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission (SCFC).

The remaining active fires, according to the SCFC website, were burning in Charleston County, Berkeley County, Colleton County, Pickens County, and Horry County.

View the SCFC interactive wildfire map by clicking here.

As of 10 a.m. Sunday in the Lowcountry:

Around the state:

The SCFC reports over 4,200 acres across the Palmetto State have been burned in 175 fires in the last 7 days, most of them coming between Friday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, Mar. 2.

A burn ban is still in effect for the state.

READ MORE | "Statewide burn ban issued by SC Forestry Commission amid wildfires"

To learn more about wildfires and how they are combatted, click here.

These fires are developing and this story will be updated.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster stressed the importance of obeying a statewide burn ban as fire crews in multiple counties raced to contain wildfires.

The governor posted on his X account Saturday night about a ban on outdoor burning the South Carolina Forestry Commission ordered for the entire state earlier in the day.

“That means you can and will go to jail for starting a fire outdoors in South Carolina. Period,” he said.

He said first responders and firefighters across the state “are risking their lives to contain many fires.” He urged people to “pay attention to official emergency sources” and to call 911 to report any issues.

A statewide burning ban is now in effect due to dangerous wildfire conditions. pic.twitter.com/vzQLugXgH5

— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) March 2, 2025

Lowcountry firefighters battled multiple fires on Saturday, including a wildfire in Charleston County, a large brush fire in Berkeley County and multiple fires in the North Charleston area.

The most intense fire activity in the Lowcountry, however, was in Georgetown County where officials ordered an evacuation in the Prince George area.

Georgetown County spokesperson Jackie Broach said on Saturday night that the fire had been contained and the evacuation order had been lifted.

“No structures were damaged,” she said, adding that firefighters planned to remain at the site of the fire.

It was not clear how many acres burned in the fire.

A second fire in the North Santee area of Georgetown County was also contained, she said. Firefighters estimated about 800 acres were affected.

She asked people who live in the areas affected by the fires to remain vigilant since conditions can change rapidly.

Georgetown County enacted its own county-wide burning ban last week ahead of the South Carolina Forestry Commission’s Red Flag Fire Alert and Saturday’s statewide burning ban.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Charleston is looking to purchase property on the peninsula from Charleston County to build more affordable housing.

The county-owned property sits at 993 and 995 Morrison Drive, located next to the Charleston Tech Center, and currently is a parking lot.

On Thursday night, the county’s finance committee will meet to discuss potentially selling the property, with the city offering $30 million.

This comes after the county council recommended on Jan. 28 entering negotiations with the city for an amount ranging between $30 and $35 million for the cost of the property.

This is a $10 million increase from Mayor William Cogswell’s initial offer of $20 million back in October. County councilmember Jenny Costa Honeycutt says that is because the county was looking for an offer closer to the appraisal value of the property which exceeded $30 million.

City officials say that their plan is to use funds they have set aside from their Cooper River Bridge Tax Increment Financing District to purchase the property if they receive final approval from the county.

If the county sells this property to the city, Honeycutt says the funds they would receive would go into the county’s capital projects program which consists of various different initiatives.

“We do have a lot of capital projects that are ongoing. Azalea, the bio lab, and other upfits that are being done, so that’s where those dollars would be spent. I’m sure there will be a discussion among council about the possibility of other areas and reinvestment into affordable housing initiatives, but at this point, the designated funds typically go back into our capital projects program,” Honeycutt says.

The county had initially considered seeking out developers for this property to create affordable housing, however, before moving too far along in the process, the city showed interest in purchasing it.

“To get potential developers to look at developing it in the way that would maximize its utility and provide the most affordable housing that they could put on this site,” Honeycutt says. “We didn’t expect the city to come in with a competitive offer and so before we got to that phase of the process, the city made its initial offer and so there have been discussions ongoing with the city.”

The city had said previously that their goal was to create 500 affordable housing units on this property, but the Chief Policy Officer for the city, Logan McVey, says it will depend on factors such as the final price tag, site conditions and the cost of building materials at the time of construction.

McVey says that affordable housing is essential for the peninsula, not only to alleviate traffic problems in the area but to ensure long-time Charleston residents have a place to live.

“When you have to live in Goose Creek or outer West Ashley or Johns Island, you have to drive all the way if you’re coming to downtown and when you do that, you put a strain on our roads,” McVey says. “We’ve even got a study that shows that people who are from here can’t afford to live here anymore and they’re being replaced by people that are moving here, so we’re kind of losing the culture that makes Charleston special and it’s really important to keep it affordable to live here to preserve that.”

Honeycutt says that Thursday’s discussion could result in approving or rejecting the city’s offer or coming up with a counteroffer. If the county decides to move forward with the city’s offer it will have to go to the county council for approval on Tuesday.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

It takes nearly 6 million airplane seats and 5 million hotel stays to accommodate travelers to The Holy City on a yearly basis.

Downtown Charleston is a hot spot for dining, shopping, gallery browsing and walking tours. It's made best of lists for various travel publications for more than a decade now, placing it on the map for international visitors in addition to U.S. wanderlusters and Southern sightseers. (Charleston has been named the top city in the United States by Travel + Leisure magazine for 12 years in a row now).

Arts and culture events like Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston Wine + Food and the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition have people flooding to the peninsula particularly in the spring.

As this high season approaches, locals can’t help but anticipate clusters of out-of-towners meandering through as they make their way to work, try to find parking or meet friends on-time. With all the foot traffic residents navigate on a regular basis, there are tell-tale signs of a non-Charlestonian.

Here are some of the dead giveaways that you're a tourist in Charleston. Take note, ye visiting festivalgoers.

Don't block the sidewalk

There’s nothing more touristy than stopping in the middle of a cramped sidewalk to check your phone or stepping into narrow traffic lanes to snap a photo. And on these slim 17th-century sidewalks, it’s customary to be mindful of people who are walking quickly behind you to their destination. It screams “clueless” when a group of people blocks the entire thoroughfare and locals have to practically shoulder through them. Yes, it's the slow South and all, but please put a little more New York City pep in your step.

Don't get your heel stuck in the cobblestones

Between the plethora of Spanish moss, graveyards, steeples and brides-in-white, downtown certainly has its own brand of whimsy for the wandering multitudes. But it also has its hazards. The cobblestone streets of the historic district have broken many-a-heel and scraped plenty of knees, so comfortable footwear is key. Towering stilettos spell disaster on these uneven sidewalks, ladies, so if you have a fancy event to get to, pack a spare pair of flats in your bag. And walking while texting pretty much isn’t an option unless you are familiar with constant dips and gaps in the sidewalks.

Look both ways

Jaywalking is treacherous across small Holy City streets where cars are constantly veering to get around pedicabs, horse carriages and construction blocks. It is a telltale sign that sightseers are oblivious when they amble into traffic without looking both ways. Local pedestrians know making eye contact with drivers can save a lot of exasperation.

Dress for the weather

Fashion in Charleston is as much about presentation as it is self-preservation. Oftentimes it’s above 80 degrees with 80 percent humidity and the chance of a stray afternoon rainstorm that can turn into a treacherous flash-flood. Dressing right is all about light layers, including rain-resistant jackets so you aren't caught unprepared in a deluge. And with the sun beaming down, it’s obvious a daytripper is a tourist if they're already bright red, not protecting their faces with hats or sunglasses.

Matching attire is a dead giveaway

Speaking of fashion, if you're visiting for a bachelorette party, it's already obvious you're a tourist by the matching T-shirts, sashes, wigs or other kitschy garb. If you want to blend in a little better, try wearing similar but different dresses from a local boutique instead. You might not be able to say you're from Charleston, but when you go back home you can say your dress is. Our local economy thanks you.

Pay attention to the one ways

In addition to horse carriage tours, one-way streets are common tourist traps. A sure sign a tourist has made an embarrassing error is when they take a turn the wrong way down one of these. Usually, a full-on screaming match with the front seat passenger ensues in this case, often followed by a frenzied backing-up process that'll make you stick out like a sore thumb. Pay attention to the signs, and don't just trust your GPS.

Sweet tea is the only tea

The term “iced tea” means sweet tea here. If you want unsweet tea you need to specify that, although it’s highly discouraged. You might be able to get away with half-and-half.

Embracing Southern hospitality

Charlestontians can sense if someone is behind them when they are opening doors, and we always hold the door for them, smile and nod. It's called Southern hospitality and you'll need a dose to blend in here. Speaking of hospitality, if you aren’t tipping at least 20 percent at your meal in a downtown restaurant, it’s clear that you aren’t in the loop. When in doubt, the social default is friendly and laid-back, though we might throw a "bless your heart" behind your back. This is the South, after all.

Kalyn Oyer contributed to this report.