In a dispute with tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and the fate of a key redevelopment plan in North Charleston both at stake, there appears to be no middle ground, The Post and Courier (S.C.) reported yesterday. Charleston County and a private developer returned to bankruptcy court to press their claims and made it clear that compromise is unlikely. Chicora Life Center wants a federal bankruptcy court judge to enforce a lease that would cost Charleston County more than $29.4 million. The county wants the opposite, a ruling that the county has no obligations under the lease. Chief Bankruptcy Judge John E. Waites was hoping that the two sides could find some common ground to move the bankruptcy case toward a resolution allowing debtors to be paid. After reading the latest filings, he was not optimistic. The years-long saga began optimistically, when North Charleston purchased the former hospital from the federal government for $2 million in 2012. Under the now-disputed lease agreement, the county had agreed to spend $1,177,044 a year for 25 years to rent three floors of the building. The county's decision to cancel the lease also complicated plans by the Medical University of South Carolina. After agreeing to lease space in the former Naval Hospital, the county also agreed to sell buildings in downtown Charleston to MUSC for $17 million.
