Millennium Tower: Surfside disaster raises issues about San Francisco’s sinking constructing

“It has been named one of the 10 most luxurious buildings in the world,” recalled former Millennial resident Frank Jernigan.

But since it opened, the hulking blue-gray tower has sunk 18 inches into the soft ground of the inner city on which it was built – and it is leaning, according to current Millennium engineer Ronald Hamburger.

“When you have a skyscraper that is collapsing and you had a situation in San Francisco – we had a skyscraper that is falling and falling – it affects people’s peace of mind,” said attorney Niall McCarthy. He represented about 100 Millennium Tower residents who reached a brokered settlement with developers and others in 2020 on a lawsuit alleging their property values ​​plummeted with the news of the doom.

Millennium engineer: Surfside comparisons “ruthless and hasty”

Hamburger, who has been monitoring the Millennium Tower settlements since 2014 and assessing their impact on the structure, told CNN in a statement that the building was designed to be earthquake-proof, safe and not in danger of collapsing.

“The collapse of the apartment building in Surfside … was tragic, but it is far too early to speculate about the cause of this disaster – and possible comparisons with the Millennium Tower would be inconsiderate and premature,” said Hamburger.

“The Millennium Tower was designed to meet stringent seismic safety standards and is a much tougher construction than typical Florida buildings that don’t need to be earthquake-proof,” he added. “I can say with confidence that the settlements the Millennium Tower has seen have not compromised its stability or security.”

A $ 100 million repair, slated for completion next year, involves installing piles in the foundations of downtown San Francisco under the building, Millennium spokesman Doug Elmets said. The piles will then be connected to the existing foundation, he said.

The renovation, announced in October after years of legal proceedings, hearings and accusations, will finally anchor the building in the foundation. The original foundation was built in deep sand, and experts determined that nearby projects and a process known as drainage had weakened the soil beneath the immersion tower.

“The structural upgrading of the tower, which is currently being carried out, is intended to prevent further subsidence and restore part of the building’s inclination instead of repairing or reinforcing damage,” said Hamburger in the statement. “The building remains safe and is not in danger of collapsing.”

The Surfside collapse may have started in the lower reaches of the building

In Florida, after the partial collapse of the apartment building last Thursday, at least 24 people were dead and dozens were missing. Search and rescue teams had worked feverishly to locate missing residents until efforts were temporarily halted on Thursday due to structural concerns about the remaining parts of the building. These efforts resumed Thursday evening. Several engineers have told CNN that the video of the collapse suggests the failure began near the foundation of the structure and a survey conducted in 2018 ahead of the building’s 40-year mandatory certification mentioned problems in the pool area and the garage below was with her two children in their first floor apartment in Champlain Towers South on the night of the collapse, said they heard loud knocking noises followed by a bang. She said she ran up to the sound and saw the building’s underground car park collapse.

The cause of the collapse is still unknown.

The surviving members of the Champlain Towers South Housing Association issued a statement Friday saying, “We know that a full investigation will take time to reply, and we will continue to engage with city, state, local and federal officials work together in their rescue efforts and understand the causes of this tragedy. “

“It was a really wonderful place to live”

“These people lay comfortably in bed at night without warning,” said former Millennial resident Jernigan of the Surfside disaster. “It’s a terrible thing for the families who are going through now. And our hearts just go out.”

Jernigan, a retired software engineer, and Andrew Faulk, a retired medical doctor, paid more than $ 4 million for their millennial’s 50th floor condo in 2011.

Years later, Jernigan and Faulk learned that the skyscraper is not only sinking, it is overturning. In 2016, they recorded a high-profile online video entitled “Marble Scroll in the Millennium Tower”.

“It was the very first time we did it,” Jernigan said of the experiment. “He took the marble out and I’ll roll this and see what it does.”

In the video intended to demonstrate the notorious tilt, the marble was rolled onto a hardwood floor, but then changed direction.

“Rolls out about 10 feet,” said Jernigan, who filmed the video, of the marble’s trajectory. “Slows to a stop and then turns around and starts rolling back and gaining speed as it passes by.”

“In the direction in which the building is inclined,” interjected Faulk. “And so it was like, ‘Oh my god.'”

In 2017, CBS called “60 Minutes” a section on the Millennium “The Leaning Tower of San Francisco” and revealed alarming tension meters and cracks in the building’s foundation.

Jernigan and Faulk sold their two Millennium units in 2017 for what the former software engineer called “earthquake sales prices”.

“It was a really wonderful place to live and of course we didn’t know when we moved in, but there were wonderful people who lived there too,” said Jernigan.

The building’s equipment included a barrel-shaped wine cabinet, a private cinema and a spacious outdoor terrace with a marble fireplace and waterfall overlooking the Olympic indoor pool.

Jernigan and Faulk, of course, won’t be with their friends and ex-neighbors to complete the Millennium Fixation in late 2022. You have moved to another condominium complex.

“We did what we had to do to get peace of mind,” said Jernigan.

Faulk added, “We got our suitcases … packed everything in … and we left.”

CNN’s Eliott C. McLaughlin and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.