SAN FRANCISCO – A $ 100 million fix to keep a luxury San Francisco skyscraper from sinking and toppling even more is put on hold while engineers try to figure out why the building moved an additional 2.5 centimeters during repairs has decreased.
Doug Elmets, spokesman for the Millennium Tower, said in a statement that the pile installation to reinforce the building’s foundation has been suspended for two to four weeks as they seek to understand why the “increased rate of settlement and the means available to mitigate it” are to be understood .
Elmets said the building was safe, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday.
The 58-story tower opened to fanfare in 2009 and all 419 apartments quickly sold out. Celebrity residents included former San Francisco 49er Joe Montana, late venture capitalist Tom Perkins, and Giants outfielder Hunter Pence.
But by 2016, the building had sunk four inches into the soft ground and landfill of San Francisco’s dense financial district. It was also sloped, creating a 5 cm slope at the base and a 15 cm slope at the top. Local residents sued the developer and designers.
A confidential agreement reached with homeowners last year included $ 100 million to install 52 63,500 kilograms of concrete piles to anchor the building 76 meters below the bedrock. Piles provide foundation support.
