They dug a construction pit near her Meeting Street business. Then the walls cracked
About the time Meeting Street in West Columbia began showing signs of sinking, Karen Hoover started noticing cracks in the walls of her 2-year-old home decor shop.
It was last summer, when digging had just begun at the construction site of the new Brookland development, hailed as a “catalyst” project for a riverside area that’s quickly becoming an extension of downtown Columbia.
Now Hoover, the owner of Newfangled Consignments at the corner of Meeting and State streets, spots a new crack almost every time she looks at the walls of her store – in the window frames overlooking the construction site, above a side door flanked by vases and wall hangings, through the brick on the outside of the building.
The building foundation, she fears, is compromised.
“It’s bad enough that the street has been caved in, because people think they can’t get in my business,” Hoover said. “It’s killing my business, and now it’s tearing my building up.”
S.C. Department of Transportation officials have blamed the Brookland construction site for damage to Meeting Street, saying the ground was destabilized when the digging began. Part of the sunken road has been blocked off with cones for months.
Hoover said she suspects the same cause behind the damage to her store building.
The building has stood since the 1930s and once housed an automotive service station. Hoover bought it in 2013 and, after extensive renovations under the supervision of a structural engineer, she said, opened Newfangled in 2015.
The cozy little home decor consignment store draws customers from all over South Carolina. But Hoover worries about its future.
“I’ve poured my heart and soul and all my savings into that building, and I’m slowly watching it fall apart,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Hoover has hired a lawyer to communicate with the Brookland developer, Estates & Companies, and the construction contractor, Carter and Carter. She also has hired a structural engineer, at her own cost, who will inspect the building in the next week.
Efforts by The State newspaper to reach representatives from Estates & Companies for comment Friday were unsuccessful.
Despite the headache of construction, Hoover said she welcomes the Brookland development and new activity to the area.
“I’m excited about them being there,” she said. “That’s going to be good for me. But don’t destroy my building in the process.”
This story was originally published January 20, 2018 at 7:50 AM with the headline "They dug a construction pit near her Meeting Street business. Then the walls cracked."