When Horry County officials broke ground on a new county police precinct and office complex in Carolina Forest in November 2023, the completion target timeline was spring of 2025.
Now, that date will be pushed to the fall.
Horry County spokesperson Mikayla Moskov said the county has an estimated completion date of Sept. 15.
There have been a number of contractor issues during the construction of the new $20 million building. Cooper Tacia out of Raleigh, North Carolina, was hired to be the main contractor for the project.
Several contractors filed lawsuits against Cooper Tacia claiming they were not paid for work that had been completed and that Cooper Tacia had received payment for by the county.
Another issue has since surfaced.
The Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority has issued a stop work order against GNK Developers from Cary, North Carolina, who were hired to do work that originally had been assigned to Carolina Utilities from Horry County.
Carolina Utilities had been contracted to do the site work for the project but bowed out after not receiving almost $400,000 for work that had been done.
In an email obtained by MyHorry黑料社入口 dated Dec. 16, GSWSA said it could not verify that GNK Developers is licensed in the state of South Carolina.
鈥淎t this time NO WORK is to be done in regards to the relocation of the existing waterline until we have a verified water/sewer contractor on file,鈥 the email states.
GNK is not listed with the South Carolina Labor, Licensing and Regulations Board as a registered contractor.
The company does not have a Horry County business license, according to county officials.
MyHorry黑料社入口 reached out to GNK for comment.
Carolina Utilities owner Brandon Lawrence said he continues to be upset with the county for allowing out-of-state, non-licensed companies to do work on county projects.
Lawrence said most of his issues come over extra work order costs that the contractor refused to pay.
鈥淥ur contract said we were entitled to more money if more fill was necessary,鈥 Lawrence said. 鈥淭hey kept denying our applications.鈥
His lawsuit states the company鈥檚 denials began in March, despite being told by some Cooper Tacia officials that Carolina Utilities would be paid.
According to the official complaint, Cooper Tacia 鈥渒ept inducing Carolina Utilities to keep working鈥 with the promise of later payment, but the extra money never came.
Carolina Utilities submitted a final payment request on April 19 and Cooper Tacia told the company they could not charge for anything over the cost of the original 32,501 square feet of fill, according to the suit.
On July 10, Carolina Utilities submitted a default notice to Cooper Tacia demanding full payment and exercised its right to stop work on July 20.
Cooper Tacia sent Carolina Utilities a notice of default and that its contract had been terminated on Aug. 30.
The suit is asking for $352,115 plus damages, interest, attorneys fees and court costs.
Carolina Utilities isn鈥檛 the only subcontractor dealing with non-payment woes.
The Construction Services Group was hired by Cooper Tacia in October 2023 to do the concrete work on the same project.
Company president Ron McCollum said his company has not been paid by Cooper Tacia for work completed.
McCollum said Cooper Tacia was invoiced in April, May, June and July of this year for $517,011 and still hasn鈥檛 paid.
In records obtained by Lawrence鈥檚 legal team, the Horry County check register shows Cooper Tacia had been paid $3,298,461.94 through July 16.
According to the Carolinas Utilities suit, the Cincinnati Insurance Group, also named in the action, issued a security bond to Cooper Tacia for $15,592,000 for the project.
Cooper Tacia responded that they had 鈥渁dhered聽to South Carolina statutes, fulfilled our contractual obligations, and maintained our own rigorous ethical standards in all interactions with subcontractors on this project. Recent allegations regarding subcontractor issues are unfounded. The subcontractors in question were terminated due to their non-compliance with contractual obligations. As a policy, we refrain from commenting on ongoing legal matters. Therefore, this will be our sole public statement on the issue. We appreciate the trust that the taxpayers of Horry County have placed in us to build their new government complex.鈥
Lawrence said his lawsuit had gone to mediation but the terms were not acceptable.
鈥淭hey wanted us to accept half of what they owed us,鈥 Lawrence said. 鈥淲e told them we鈥檇 see them in court.鈥
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