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Investor sues CaroLinks
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
CaroLinks, the Charleston-based company currently developing an inland port in Orangeburg, is being sued by a North Carolina developer who lent the company $500,000 to secure land for a part of the project it has since abandoned.
The lawsuit, filed in the Charleston County Circuit Court on Aug. 2, alleges that CaroLinks reneged on an agreement with John W. Harris, president and CEO of the Lincoln Harris real estate investment firm, to repay the loan with interest by July 29.
Harris’ attorney, Jeff Long of James, McElroy and Diehl P.A. law firm in Charlotte, N.C., declined comment on the litigation.
According to the lawsuit, CaroLinks had borrowed the sum to fund its purchase of the Macalloy site, a large former industrial parcel adjacent to Shipyard Creek. CaroLinks had been going to use the site as a cornerstone of an intermodal operation that would move cargo containers from the Port of Charleston’s Wando Welch terminal to the inland Orangeburg
site.
An option CaroLinks had secured on the 135-acre property expired last year, and the property was purchased by Shipyard Creek Associates LLC—a partnership comprised of Branch Properties LLC; Stanley B. Ashley Jr., a member of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors’ million-dollar club; and Robert L. Clement III—for $33 million.
Shipyard Creek Associates is now planning its own intermodal facility on the site.
CaroLinks was hit on Aug. 24 with a second contractual lawsuit related to an employment matter. The suit was filed by Sarah Sullivan, a former member of CaroLinks’ business development team.
Alan Capper, CaroLinks’ spokesman and senior vice president, said the company’s general counsel has advised him against commenting on specifics of either lawsuit.
However, Capper said, “lawsuits are by no means uncommon” in the business world, and that he expected both suits to be sorted out “in the fullness of time.”
Capper said despite the litigation, CaroLinks is continuing to pursue the development of a nearly 900-acre parcel in Orangeburg with Centre Pointe developer Richard Weiser.
Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.
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