As reports have emerged that San Francisco’s infamous sinking skyscraper, the Millennium Tower, is continuing to settle downward, engineers from LERA and DeSimone Consulting have unveiled a potential fix for the building’s woes.
Since construction began in 2005, the 58-story luxury condominium tower has sank approximately 17 inches downward and while leaning 14 inches to the North. And according to a new report from Arup Ground, the issue doesn’t appear to be resolving itself anytime soon: in the past 7 months alone, the building has sunk an additional inch and tilted a further two inches, causing cracking in the building to worsen.
Triggered to action, developer Millennium Partners brought in LERA and DeSimone to devise a solution that would return the building to its original siting and secure it against sinking, all while allowing the building to continue operating through the repair process.
The engineers’ solution would involve drilling 50-100 new foundation piles from the basement level into the bedrock 200 feet below – a strategy considered during the original construction process but ultimately deemed unnecessary. Existing piles embedded into the landfill carrying the structure's mass reach just 60-91 feet down.
The plan is estimated to cost between $100 million and $150 million, though who will ultimately foot the bill remains unclear, as a lawsuit between Millennium Partners, the homeowners assocation and the nearby Transbay Transit Center remains unresolved.
Learn more about the story here.
News via San Francisco Chronicle.
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