S.C. Code Ann. § 59-109-70

The authority is authorized and empowered directly or by and through a participating institution for higher learning, as its agent, to acquire by purchase solely from funds provided under the authority of this chapter, or by gift or devise, such lands, structures, property, real or personal, rights, rights-of-way, franchises, easements, and other interests in lands, including lands lying under water and riparian rights, which are located within the State as it considers necessary or convenient for the acquisition, construction, or operation of a project, upon such terms and at such prices as may be considered by it to be reasonable and can be agreed upon between it and the owner thereof, and to take title thereto in the name of the authority or in the name of a participating institution for higher learning as its agent.