Personal Injury Attorney in Charleston, SC

South Carolina’s longest-practicing architecture firm has been acquired by a firm with locations throughout the Southeast, including Charleston, Columbia, Greenville and Spartanburg.

McMillan Pazdan Smith has acquired West Columbia-based Jumper Carter Sease, an accomplished architecture firm with a rich history of quality projects dating back to 1929, according to a news release.

“We’ve admired the talented JCS team’s thoughtful design process and exceptional client service for many years, and we are honored to welcome them into the MPS firm family,” said Chad Cousins, CEO, McMillan Pazdan Smith, in the release. “Our shared vision and culture are very well aligned. Together, we are focused on expanding the impact of purposeful architecture and advisory leadership for clients, communities, and campuses in the South Carolina Midlands and across the growing Southeast region.”

JCS’s portfolio includes projects across the state with many repeat clients, especially in the education, healthcare, civic and cultural sectors, according to the release. JCS recently completed Catawba Ridge HS, Fort Mill School District (A4LE design award winner) and is currently designing the Education Center at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden.

Todd Sease and Joel Carter, founders of the firm, will continue to serve in leadership positions with MPS, according to the release.

“We are excited to be joining the collaborative culture of MPS, which aligns with our ongoing mission and commitment to design excellence and client-centered service and relationships,” said JCS Principal Todd Sease.

Added: Principal Joel Carter: “This partnership expands our legacy of lasting and meaningful architecture, provides further resources and deep market expertise to serve clients, and grows and supports professional opportunities for our team.”

An early 1990s-era downtown Charleston office building that's due for a makeover has been sold to an investment group promising to add some ground-floor pizzazz to the high-profile property.

Fourthline Capital Management paid $45.75 million for Bank of America Place at 200 Meeting St. and its attached 350-space parking garage, according to public real estate records recorded this week.

The deal marks the first ownership change for the four-story property, which is a block north of the historic City Market, since 2004, when it was sold for $42 million.

The new ownership group said the building "is representative of the type of irreplaceable assets in exceptional locations Fourthline seeks to add to its portfolio."

“200 Meeting has been an iconic address for many decades, and we will seek to not only reclaim that position but elevate it to new heights through a comprehensive capital investment plan," said Jake Farver, the firm's founding partner, said in written statement.

"This in our view is an absolutely exceptional location," he added in an interview.

While 200 Meeting will remain primarily an office address, Fourthline is embarking on what partner Eduardo Arboleda called an "inside/out" redevelopment that will convert the ground floor real estate along Meeting, Hayne and Pinckney streets into "world-class" retail space.

“200 Meeting has been hiding in plain sight for some time,” Arboleda said.

Farver said the goal is to invigorate an underutilized street-level "blank spot."

"When it was built in the '90s, that architectural period was sort of looking inside, and obviously Charleston was in a different place at that time," he said.

Farver described Washington D.C.-based Fourthline as "long-term private capital" investor.

When the firm started looking at 200 Meeting after it hit the market about a year ago, the firm saw "a very functional office building that just needed a lot of capital investment to bring it to best-in-class."

"And we really looked at that ground floor as an opportunity to really invite the public realm into the project," Farver said. "It had really great core features, really nice high ceiling heights. The building construction allows for storefronts to be added without a lot of really challenging construction components."

The renovation work is already underway.

Farver declined to comment about the existing ground floor tenants at 200 Meeting, saying only "we're interested in accommodating the best users for the property."

The office complex was completed in 1991 on the site for former Heart of Charleston Motor Hotel.

The previous owner was an affiliate of Oceanside Resorts Inc. The Miami-based real estate investment firm that bought 200 Meeting in December 2004 for what was a record prince at the time for a commercial property on the peninsula.

The seller was represented by the Charleston office of Avison Young, while Lee & Associates will manage and lease the property for Fourthline Capital.

Hooter's has shut down two of its seven South Carolina restaurants and more than two dozen others as it works through a financial restructuring and toward a sale.

The Columbia and Rock Hill locations have been permanently closed, according to recorded messages left on their phones.

The company's website shows five other Palmetto State restaurants remain open in Anderson, Greenville, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach and North Charleston.

"After careful consideration of what is needed to best position our company for the future, Hooters made the difficult decision to close certain company-owned locations,” a spokesperson for the Atlanta-based chain said in a statement provided to CNN.

In all, about 30 restaurants were shuttered across multiple states, including Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, according to multiple media reports.

The owner of the casual dining chain, known for its chicken wings and skimpy "Hooters Girls" server uniforms, sought bankruptcy protection earlier this year in Dallas.

Under a financial restructuring plan filed March 31, more than 100 company-owned U.S. locations that account for about $700 million in annual sales are being sold to a group of existing franchisees under the name Hoot Owl Restaurants LLC.

The buyers, who include the chain's original founders, currently operate about half of the 30 highest-volume Hooters in the country, the company said.

The bankruptcy sale is scheduled for August. The latest round of closings were expected to "occur before the transaction was finalized," according to a statement issued Thursday.

Hooters had about 420 restaurants in 29 countries at the time of the bankruptcy filing. Once the sale is completed, the company will be down to about 200 U.S. locations and 60 overseas.

"We are confident that the acquisition will be finalized later this summer and we are excited to move forward into the next chapter of the Hooters brand," Hooters Inc. CEO Nel Kiefer said in the written statement.

"Decisions about store closures are never easy to make but all parties are completely aligned in bringing the necessary resources required to make the remaining 200 domestic ... locations as successful as possible," he added.

Hooters was founded in Clearwater, Fla., in 1983. Last year, the company closed around 40 underperforming U.S. restaurants.

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - A man arrested in connection to the hit-and-run death of a Lowcountry musician and employee of the City of Goose Creek has been denied bond.

Terrell Darrel Crawford, 37, of North Charleston, who is charged with hit-and-run involving death and driving under suspension, appeared in court Friday morning for a bond hearing.

At that hearing, Judge Tara Frost granted Crawford a $647.50 personal recognizance bond for the charge of driving under suspension, but denied bond for the charge of hit-and-run involving death.

Crawford is accused of striking and killing Kelly Farmer, 46. He was found dead on Dorchester Road after being hit while walking in the area of Tabby Lane just before 7 a.m. back on April 13.

Family members remember Farmer as a “kind, gentle and loving” person.

In court Friday, Farmer’s sister-in-law Creta Tobey gave a testimony.

“I’m denied the opportunity to see Kelly every day,” Tobey said. “I can’t see his smile. I can’t hear his voice. I can’t hear the music that he plays. And I certainly can’t smell his wonderful cooking anymore.”

Sgt. T.G. Methvin with the South Carolina Highway Patrol also spoke in support of the family. He says Crawford made attempts to hide the vehicle involved in this incident during the investigation.

“He also did admit that he knew what he hit that morning,” Methvin said. “So, he knows what he did.”

Frost says Crawford just finished his probationary period for a prior charge of first-degree assault and battery. She says she believes he is a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Crawford appeared mostly stoic over the video feed, but appeared like he was getting a bit more emotional as the judge read out his bond conditions.

“I apologize to the family,” Crawford said. “There was no intentions of me to do that… At the same time, I have never been through this before. So, I’m kind of scared. Anybody would be scared. Like I said, I apologize.”

Crawford’s bond conditions include not leaving the state without court approval, not having contact with the victim’s family and to appear at all court hearings.

Kelly Farmer’s sister Kathryn Farmer says the judge’s ruling shows a bit of light at the end of a tunnel.

“Relieved a little bit,” Farmer said. “Still very emotional. I know we have a long road ahead of us. But I’m glad that justice is finally starting to be served for my brother.”

South Carolina Highway Patrol arrested Crawford Thursday. He was booked into the L.C. Knight Detention Center, where he will now remain until at least his court hearings next month.

Now, Kelly Farmer’s family must fulfill his final wish of planting his ashes in a bulb that will eventually grow into a tree, while remembering their ultimate goal.

“Our justice system continues to do what it’s supposed to do and find justice for my brother in whatever form they deem,” Farmer said.

At the time of Farmer’s death, the City of Goose Creek released a statement:

South Carolina Highway Patrol arrested Crawford Thursday. He was booked into the L.C. Knight Detention Center, where he will now remain.

Crawford’s charges will be discussed at two separate hearings. The driving under suspension charge will be heard on July 10 at the Summerville Courthouse. The hit-and-run charge will be heard July 22 at the courthouse in St. George.

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - The Charleston County Public Works crew is working to make traveling where US-17 meets Main Road much less stressful as revenue rolls in from the Transportation Sales Tax.

Charleston County Public Works Capital Programs Manager Alex Owsiak says the dozens of road projects funded by this tax are hoping to make traveling across the county less congested.

One of the main projects staff is looking at involves the projected $445 million upgrades to where Main Road segment A meets Highway 17 in West Ashley.

The plan is to construct an elevated interchange at this intersection. Plus, build flyover bridges to give direct access to Main Road without having to go through the intersection as a whole.

Public works staff says this would prevent backups on US-17 and avoid more drivers in this area.

“You’ll have free-flow conditions on US-17 now,” Owsiak said. “And then this flyover ramp will certainly help the traffic mobilize through that area a lot smoother and more efficient.”

They’re currently finalizing the design plans for the roadway and the around 400 utility relocations to make this project possible. These will start in the next couple of months.

Owsiak warns drivers about what they could go through before this is finished.

“There’s no way to sugarcoat that,” Owsiak said. “I mean, there’s definitely going to be an impact. There’s going to be some traffic backups. I know we’ve already closed Old Charleston Highway over there at 17. You’ve already seen some backups associated with that. So, we’re trying to manage the traffic through that area the best we can. Looking to see if we can do some resignalization and re-timing on signals out there to help provide some additional time to get people off of Johns Island. But if there’s any kind of construction project, it’s going to be a mess for the next three years or so before we get it all cleaned up.”

Along with this project, Charleston County hopes to advertise 38 other road projects with the TST by the end of this year. They also hope to advertise 16 road projects funded by the state gas tax funds as part of the Charleston County Transportation Committee.

Staff say they just want drivers to know about 80 projects, which total about $850 million, are in the works now that are making folks’ commutes safer.

The Highway 17 and Main Road project is supposed to be completed by September 2028.

The Charleston County Finance Committee is receiving its quarterly update of these projects at Thursday night’s meeting. Read the full presentation below.