Federal class

The evacuated 22-story oceanfront Renaissance Tower is located at Myrtle Beach Resort. Richard Caines/Staff

MYRTLE BEACH — Leaders overseeing the recently evacuated 22-story oceanfront Renaissance Tower located at Myrtle Beach Resort allegedly knew for years that its steel foundation was unsafe.

Lawyers representing the owners of the tower's 322 condominiums recently filed a federal class-action lawsuit, accusing directors of the homeowner association and its management company of failing to inspect, maintain or repair the decades-old tower's structural problems.

The 34-page lawsuit additionally claims the HOA directors and management company — which was not named in the lawsuit — were "negligent" in "failing" to have an assessment done for the association's assets as well as not having "reasonable" reserve funds to fix the issue, which the complaint said the foundation's steel repairs have already been assessed at more than $2 million.

The tower, sitting nearly halfway between the under-construction Surfside Beach Pier and the Myrtle Beach city limits, currently remains empty after homeowners, guests and employees were instructed to "immediately" leave the oceanfront building located in the 33-acre gated resort on Oct. 7.

Some of the condo owners, according to the complaint, are allegedly living out of a tent at a nearby campground.

An Oct. 7 email sent from the management company to the tower's homeowners said that it was "imperative" to get out of the building until its steel frame could be secured after workers showed concern over the integrity of the building. The complaint calls the circumstances "frighteningly similar" to the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium building in Surfside, Fla.

Evacuation of the Renaissance Tower comes a little over a year after the 12-story tower suddenly collapsed on June 24, 2021, killing 98 people.

The federal lawsuit seeks to recover more than $2 million for the condo owners and the association as well as additional amounts that will be needed for temporary shoring and additional repairs due to the "dangerous condition of the steel, lost rental income from and lost use of the condos and other damages."

"Like the Champlain Towers South building that collapsed, the Board of the Regime and its management company knew for years of the structural and safety issue presented by the corroded and weakened steel but instead chose to undertake expensive building-improvement projects that did not address any safety or structural concerns," the lawsuit said.

Allegedly prompted by the Florida tower collapse, the complaint said the directors of the board evaluated the condition of the foundation but claimed they knew five years prior that foundation repairs needed to be made but instead replaced a cooling tower.

"The engineer who evaluated the structural steel components under the building in 2021 found, as expected, that the steel was substantially more corroded and weakened than in 2018, and he advised the board that it could not continue delaying the repairs to the structural steel component," the complaint said.

As workers began to repair the steel components under the tower earlier this month, the complaint said when they began removing building materials, they observed: "The steel was so corroded and weakened that they called the engineer to evaluate the conditions."

A photo filed in court documents allegedly shows the foundation of the Renaissance Tower. Provided

The engineer hired allegedly detailed that the building is "not structurally sound," that some of the steel "column flanges are completely disintegrated on the outer side of the columns," and that the damaged structural components observed present "a very dangerous condition, resulting in the ordered evacuation by Horry County Code Enforcement.

Additionally, the directors of the association are accused of having less than $1.3 million in reserves, which the complaint said are "substantially" less than needed to repair the tower's structure.

"The reserves held were unreasonably low for a common interest property of its size, age and location," the lawsuit said.

"While the Renaissance Tower did not collapse and was thankfully evacuated without any injuries, people have been left homeless, owners have been deprived of income from their investments and owners are being asked to pay millions of dollars," said Elliotte Quinn with The Steinberg Law Firm who filed the suit. "When those responsible for building or maintaining a condo building failed to carry out their responsibilities."

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Richard Caines is a business reporter for The Post & Courier - Myrtle Beach/Georgetown Times. He is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.

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