Engineering insights into Garden City hotel’s structural concerns
GARDEN CITY, S.C. (WBTW) — Age and location were an engineer’s main reasons for closing and evacuating a Garden City hotel Thursday.
Structural engineer Saul Martinez told News13 Friday, there are concerns something is happening underneath the Kingfisher Inn.
The Kingfisher Inn, built in 1960 with precast tiling known for its resistance to weather events like storm surges, has a foundation depth of only 40 feet. A foundation depth Martinez identified as a significant concern.
This depth falls short of the 80 feet, which is now standard for coastal properties, raising red flags about the building’s stability.
Martinez said in light of similar situations happening along the coast of Florida, the decision to shut down the Kingfisher Inn was deemed necessary to avoid a potential disaster.
Christine West, got a call about the evacuations just before arriving to check-in.
“They handled it completely professionally,” West said. “I don’t feel like we were put out at all. They upgraded us to a two-bedroom condo. So, it was really just great. And I loved that level of customer service.”
West expressed gratitude for the swift action taken by officials and said she thought about similar situations happening in Florida when she received the call.
“I’ve been in construction for decades,” west said. “And I understand what it takes and what’s going on. And for reasons like what we saw in Florida, we have to learn unfortunately, we have to learn sometimes from big mistakes.”
The hotels management, the engineer, and the county are meeting April 1 to discuss the next step.
* * *
Savannah Denton joined News 13 in July 2023 as a reporter and producer. Savannah is from Atlanta, Georgia, and is a graduate of the University of Alabama. Follow Savannah on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of her work here.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW.
