Name: After sinking 18 inches, SF's Millennium Tower finally has a fix
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After sinking 18 inches, SF's Millennium Tower finally has a fix

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San Francisco's beleaguered Millennium Tower is still sinking, but a fix is finally on the way.The last inspection of the lopsided tower revealed the northwest corner descended at least 18 inches into the bay fill at Mission and Fremont streets, but a $100 million fix for the 645-foot-tall residential building will likely begin in the fall after years of planning, permits and numerous lawsuits.The blue-gray glassy modernist tower, completed in 2009 at 301 Mission Street, is the tallest residential building in the city and won numerous engineering awards upon its construction.Then, things started to go wrong.The 58-story luxury high-rise was revealed to be ... tilting.In May 2016 residents were informed that the main tower that housed their luxury condos was sinking. The foundation at 301 Mission was built into deep, dense sand but not bedrock, unlike most downtown towers. (Though many other large downtown buildings are also constructed in the same way including the Embarcadero Center, the SF MOMA, the Marriott and 101 California.)The blame game and many, many lawsuits began.The building's homeowners association sued the main contractor Webcor and the developer Millennium Partners. The city of San Francisco also filed suit against the tower's developers. The developer blamed the problem on the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, which was responsible for construction of the neighboring Transbay Transit Center. All suits were later consolidated into a global agreement that is expected to be finalized next month.As of 2018 the sinking had increased to 18 inches with a lean of 14 inches.Then came the cracking.Residents reported hearing various "creaking sounds," and then a "popping sound" at around 2:30 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 8, 2018.The following day, a resident living in a corner unit on the 36th floor found a cracked window across glass that was rated to withstand hurricane-force winds. Concerns that the creaking, popping and cracking were another symptom of the structural failure grew. A report conducted on behalf of the tower’s managers, on an “exterior impact,” but gave no indication as to what might have struck the window.Later that year, a solution to the blighted building's tilt was finally proposed. Ronald O. Hamburger, the senior principal engineer at Simpson Gumpertz Heger, revealed a final resolution to the Millennium Tower's sinking problem that involves underpinning the building.The solution, likened to putting a bumper jack next to a flat tire, will involve the installation of 52 piles along the north and west sides of the tower. The piles will be beneath the sidewalk, 250 feet into the bedrock of downtown San Francisco, and be tied with the original 60-90-feet-deep foundation piles.The plan estimates that about 50% of the tilt will be evened out over a period of 10 years as the south and eastern sides of the building come back into re-alignment with the sunken north and western sides. The remaining south and eastern sides of the building will then be anchored to the bedrock, permanently resolving the problem.The fix will cost about $100 million.After two years of lengthy permitting and approval processes, construction should begin in mid-November,“The city and state had a plethora of permit requirements for us,” Hamburger said.Construction contracts are reportedly complete and the prime contractor is in the process of securing a insurance policy, but Hamburger did not reveal the contractor's name."With all of the above, we have been expecting a start date around mid-November," said Doug Elmets, a spokesman for the Millennium Tower Homeowners Association. "This could move up to October, if things move at a quicker pace."Construction is estimated to take around two years.Andrew Chamings is an editor at SFGATE. Email: Andrew.Chamings@sfgate.com | Twitter: @AndrewChamings

San Francisco's beleaguered Millennium Tower is still sinking, but a fix is finally on the way.The last inspection of the lopsided tower revealed the northwest corner descended at least 18 inches into the bay fill at Mission and Fremont streets, but a $100 million fix for the 645-foot-tall residential building will likely begin in the fall after years of planning, permits and numerous lawsuits.The blue-gray glassy modernist tower, completed in 2009 at 301 Mission Street, is the tallest residential building in the city and won numerous engineering awards upon its construction.Then, things...

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Writer. editor at @sfgate. also @theatlantic, @mcsweeneys , @vice, @thebolditalic. dm or andrew.chamings@sfgate.com if you have a story in your brainbox

Andrew Chamings

AndrewChamings

News. Culture. Sports. Opinion. All the journalism that matters from San Francisco & the Bay Area. Newsletters: http://sfgate.com/newsletters IG: http://instagram.com/sfgate

After sinking 18 inches, SF's Millennium Tower finally has a fix

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