S.C. Code Ann. § 5-35-10: Cities of 10,000 or more empowered to condemn lands on water front.

When any city of this State having a population of ten thousand inhabitants or more and located upon a navigable stream, whether tidal or nontidal, desires to extend, improve, or protect its waterfront for public purposes, it may acquire by condemnation all private property, within or without the city or partly within and partly without the city, needed for the extension, improvement, or protection. The right conferred on the city includes the right to condemn the title or possession of any and all lands, water or riparian rights, wharves, docks, warehouses, buildings, rights-of-way, or any other property, including any property which may already have been condemned, when the property is taken for the purpose of establishing, improving, developing, maintaining, or operating the port and terminal utilities of the city for public purpose. Title acquired under this section shall vest absolutely in the city. No lands condemned under this section may be sold to private owners by the city.