Overhaul of Columbia’s ‘Malfunction Junction’ leads to lawsuit against SCDOT. What we know
The South Carolina Department of Transportation’s efforts to overhaul ‘Malfunction Junction’ — the messy tangle of interchanges for Interstates 20, 26 and 126 north of downtown Columbia — has led to one area property owner suing the state agency.
The company Columbia Alto 18, which is based in Delaware, is suing SCDOT after the agency purchased land from the company as part of the major road project.
The issue is complicated, dealing with the state’s eminent domain laws, which allow the government to buy private property when there is a public need as long as the property owner is given “just compensation.”
But the property owner is arguing that because of the agency’s purchase, a fire vault, which is a suppression system for buildings connected to separate water lines and water meters, must be relocated on the property. The property owner wants SCDOT to help pay to move the fire vault. The transportation department has refused, according to the suit.
Because it has not been relocated, the property owner claims they have been fined $1,200 daily by the Fire Marshal. The property owner claims to have accumulated $65,000 in fines, pushing SCDOT to pay what they see as the agency’s fair share.
The State could find no evidence that those fines have been issued. City, county and state fire marshal offices have no records of issuing the fines, those offices say.
The case is emerging as SCDOT is still more than half a decade out from completing the project, which is one of the largest road reconstructions in state history. A hearing to determine if the lawsuit against SCDOT has legs is scheduled for Feb. 12. before state Judge Daniel Coble in Richland County.
Land purchased
In May 2021, SCDOT initiated the eminent domain process to purchase just under .3 acres from the company, which owns a large commercial building on roughly 17 acres at 2340 Broad River Road, near the Broad River Road/I-20 interchange.
SCDOT is in the midst of a more than $2 billion, 14-mile overhaul of the interstate corridor there where the three interstates I-20, 26 and 126 meet, a project called Carolina Crossroads. Construction on that project began in 2021 and is expected to last beyond 2030.
To acquire a right-of-way for that project, SCDOT paid $150,000 for the roughly .3 acres of the 2340 Broad River Road site, which included money that was used to relocate the fire vault on the property a first time, the legal complaint against SCDOT, filed Nov. 5, 2024, notes.
The problem for the property owner came when SCDOT came back looking to acquire an additional 3,500 square feet, or less than a tenth of an acre, according to the suit. The SCDOT and the property owner agreed to a price of $85,000 for that property.
But in April 2024, the property owner “first became aware that SCDOT required a second relocation of the fire vault to ensure the vault could clear the new right-of-way,” the complaint reads.
The property owner’s attorney then contacted SCDOT’s attorneys asking for help relocating the fire vault, but the property owner received no response from SCDOT, the lawsuit claims.
“Instead, SCDOT’s actions resulted in the fire suppression system at the commercial building being shut off,” the suit claims. And for not having a functioning fire suppression system, the property owner says they are being fined $1,200 per day by the Fire Marshal.
“As a result of these actions, the Fire Marshal placed Landowner on fire watch notice. Due to the fire watch, Landowner has incurred fire watch fees for the Property at a cost of $1,200 per day starting July 26, 2024, for a total of $64,575 caused by SCDOT’s actions,” the complaint reads.
The suit does not specify which fire marshal issued the fines. The Richland County Fire Marshal confirmed that the property is under its jurisdiction and that it had been under “fire watch” between July 25, 2024 and Sept. 6, 2024, but that no fines had been issued. The state Fire Marshal and city of Columbia Fire Marshall also did not have records of issuing any fines.
Richland County also said that the fire watch was issued “due to missing ceiling tiles and water pressure issues, all of which were corrected.”
Two months before filing the lawsuit against SCDOT, the property owner requested, via attorneys, that SCDOT pay $196,597.48 to cover the cost of relocating the fire vault. SCDOT has not responded to the request, according to the complaint.
SCDOT response
SCDOT declined to speak with The State for this article, with a spokesperson emailing that the department “does not offer commentary on matters related to pending litigation.”
But in a response to the complaint, attorneys for the state agency are asking a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that the agency paid the “Plaintiff’s predecessor” an amount that both parties agreed to, “and plaintiff released SCDOT from any and all further claims related to the acquisition.”
The department’s response also states that because the property owner did not file a challenge under the state’s eminent domain procedure, the property owner “concedes that SCDOT’s acquisitions were necessary and for a public purpose,” and that SCDOT followed the eminent domain process laid out in state law.
Attorneys for the Delaware-based property company, Matthew Abee and Yasmeen Ebbini, did not respond to multiple requests for more information.
Judge Coble will consider the motion to dismiss the case at a hearing scheduled for Feb. 12. in state circuit court in Richland County.
This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 12:56 PM.
