It’s a tough time San Francisco’s Millennium Tower.

Since opening, the tower had a slight tilt. During scheduled construction in May of this year, the tower rapidly sank a few inches, causing a much bigger tilt at the top.

Now, it seems that the tilting issues has put a strain on the tower’s plumbing. According to NBC Bay Area:

“With the building now tilting 22 inches to the west, experts predict the sewer problem will get worse, as the tilting has flattened the angle of some drain lines by as much as 25 percent.”

Get all the details here.

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Centeno”,”blocks”:[{“attributes”:{“@provider”:”ohembed”,”@query”:”template”,”@url”:”https://www.iheart.com/artist/nicki-minaj-372266/?embed=true&keyid=EditorialPlayer”,”author_name”:””,”author_url”:””,”height”:”300″,”html”:”u003ciframe allow=”autoplay” width=”100%” height=”300″ frameborder=”0″ style=”border: 0;” src=”https://www.iheart.com/artist/nicki-minaj-372266/?embed=true&keyid=EditorialPlayer” frameborder=”0″>u003c/iframe>”,”provider_name”:”ohembed”,”thumbnail_height”:0,”thumbnail_url”:””,”thumbnail_width”:0,”title”:””,”type”:”rich”,”version”:”1.0″,”width”:”100%”},”embed_type”:”rich”,”html”:”u003ciframe allow=”autoplay” width=”100%” height=”300″ frameborder=”0″ style=”border: 0;” src=”https://www.iheart.com/artist/nicki-minaj-372266/?embed=true&keyid=EditorialPlayer” frameborder=”0″>u003c/iframe>”,”provider”:”ohembed”,”rendering_hint”:”default”,”schedule”:{},”type”:”embed”,”url”:”https://www.iheart.com/artist/nicki-minaj-372266/?embed=true&keyid=EditorialPlayer”},{“attributes”:{“mimetype”:”image/png”,”type”:”image”},”bucket”:”new_assets”,”caption”:””,”id”:”%2F659813c392d94c1a0d837669″,”new_tab”:false,”schedule”:{},”source_credit”:”Getty Images”,”title”:”Nicki Minaj”,”type”:”asset”,”url”:””,”use_caption”:false},{“html”:”u003cp>u003ca href=”https://www.iheart.com/artist/nicki-minaj-372266/?autoplay=true” data-catalog-kind=”artist” data-catalog-id=”372266″ data-catalog-related-id=””>u003cstrong>Nicki Minaju003c/strong>u003c/a> recalls the final moments she shared with her late father before he passed away three years ago. u003cbr />u003cbr />On Thursday, January 4, the New York rapper opened up about the last phone call she had with her dad in a radio interview. 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The post San Francisco’s Millennium Tower Now Has A Plumbing Drawback, Nonetheless Tilting appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

A luxury high-rise building in downtown San Francisco is tilting and sinking, possibly paving the way for a costly legal battle.

The Millennium Tower located at 301 Mission Street, was built in 2008, and boasts condos ranging from $1.6 million to $10 million, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

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Since completion, the 58-story building has sunk 16 inches and tilted two inches to the northwest, according to an independent consultant, the Chronicle reports.

While it’s normal for buildings to settle, the high-rise’s builders predicted the tower would only settle six inches over the course of its lifetime, according to a statement from the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.

Residents and a spokesman for Millenium Partners, the group that built the towers, allege that the high-rise is sinking because the city dug a massive hole next door, which will be home to the new Transbay Transit Center, KGO-TV reported. 

The Transbay Joint Powers Authority maintains that it “bears no responsibility for the tilt and excessive settlement,” according to a statement.

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A consultant hired by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority found that by the time city construction crews broke ground in 2010, the Millenium Tower had already settled 10 inches, the Chronicle reported.

The transit authority alleges that the building’s fate was sealed when its builders decided to support the structure on a foundation consisting “only of a concrete slab supported by short piles that fail to reach the bedrock below.”

“That foundation is inadequate to prevent settlement of a building with the weight of the Tower,” the transit authority said in a statement.

According to the statement, two similar buildings adjacent to the Transit Center site, are supported on piles drilled down to bedrock.

The post Luxe San Francisco high-rise is sinking, tilting appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The designer of the troubled fix for the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower recently briefed city officials about an especially unpleasant potential byproduct of the building’s settlement – sewer backups, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has learned.

“Sewer lines must slope (minimum of 1/8” per foot) to enable efficient flow of material,” Ron Hamburger stated in an email to city officials in late August. He identified at-risk drains that currently slope south and east – going against the current northwest tilt – saying those lines “will experience decreased slope and may become a problem.”

The sewer system alert was part of an assessment of the building’s “functionality” since the building tilted another five inches during work that began in May on the so-called fix. That project is currently on hold pending testing and analysis of what triggered the unexpected, accelerated settlement.

Hamburger told city officials that experts are assessing the strain on vertical pipes due to the tilting, while engineers have found no signs of “distress” in the elevator system.

With the building now tilting 22 inches to the west, experts predict the sewer problem will get worse, as the tilting has flattened the angle of some drain lines by as much as 25 percent.

Already, drains in the third floor owner’s lounge kitchen are experiencing “some plugging,” Hamburger said in his email summary to city officials, and now must be “maintained with periodic chemical flushing.”

“It may be necessary to adjust this and other lines to re-establish slope” Hamburger noted in a presentation he gave to city officials.

“There’s an issue of not having enough slope or too much slope, you can have problems either way,” says Mark Savel, an architect and contractor with three decades’ experience of analyzing building failures, like the 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse.

“You can expect a clog or the system to back up — that’s why the existing system should be inspected and monitored,” Savel says.

In the meantime, residents risk losing entire wood floors and walls given the health hazard associated with any massive backups, Savel says. He adds, the risk is especially high when people use the system at once.

“Those days when you have the house full of people, celebrate a holiday or have a special occasion,” he says, “that’s the day you end up calling Roto-Rooter. Because the system you have is being put to the ultimate test.”

Savel says building managers should first order a video inspection of all the lines with an eye to identify immediate risks and long-term problems.

Any final fix, he says, which would mean adjusting the level of hundreds of pipes to allow for proper flow, should await a full stabilization of the sinking and tilting structure.

The post Tilting Millennium Tower in San Francisco Faces New Plumbing Downside – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The designer of the troubled fix for the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower recently briefed city officials about an especially unpleasant potential byproduct of the building’s settlement – sewer backups, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has learned.

“Sewer lines must slope (minimum of 1/8” per foot) to enable efficient flow of material,” Ron Hamburger stated in an email to city officials in late August. He identified at-risk drains that currently slope south and east – going against the current northwest tilt – saying those lines “will experience decreased slope and may become a problem.”

The sewer system alert was part of an assessment of the building’s “functionality” since the building tilted another five inches during work that began in May on the so-called fix. That project is currently on hold pending testing and analysis of what triggered the unexpected, accelerated settlement.

Hamburger told city officials that experts are assessing the strain on vertical pipes due to the tilting, while engineers have found no signs of “distress” in the elevator system.

With the building now tilting 22 inches to the west, experts predict the sewer problem will get worse, as the tilting has flattened the angle of some drain lines by as much as 25 percent.

Already, drains in the third floor owner’s lounge kitchen are experiencing “some plugging,” Hamburger said in his email summary to city officials, and now must be “maintained with periodic chemical flushing.”

“It may be necessary to adjust this and other lines to re-establish slope” Hamburger noted in a presentation he gave to city officials.

“There’s an issue of not having enough slope or too much slope, you can have problems either way,” says Mark Savel, an architect and contractor with three decades’ experience of analyzing building failures, like the 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse.

“You can expect a clog or the system to back up — that’s why the existing system should be inspected and monitored,” Savel says.

In the meantime, residents risk losing entire wood floors and walls given the health hazard associated with any massive backups, Savel says. He adds, the risk is especially high when people use the system at once.

“Those days when you have the house full of people, celebrate a holiday or have a special occasion,” he says, “that’s the day you end up calling Roto-Rooter. Because the system you have is being put to the ultimate test.”

Savel says building managers should first order a video inspection of all the lines with an eye to identify immediate risks and long-term problems.

Any final fix, he says, which would mean adjusting the level of hundreds of pipes to allow for proper flow, should await a full stabilization of the sinking and tilting structure.

The post Tilting Millennium Tower in San Francisco Faces New Plumbing Drawback – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The designer of the troubled fix for the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower recently briefed city officials about an especially unpleasant potential byproduct of the building’s settlement – sewer backups, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has learned.

“Sewer lines must slope (minimum of 1/8” per foot) to enable efficient flow of material,” Ron Hamburger stated in an email to city officials in late August. He identified at-risk drains that currently slope south and east – going against the current northwest tilt – saying those lines “will experience decreased slope and may become a problem.”

The sewer system alert was part of an assessment of the building’s “functionality” since the building tilted another five inches during work that began in May on the so-called fix. That project is currently on hold pending testing and analysis of what triggered the unexpected, accelerated settlement.

Hamburger told city officials that experts are assessing the strain on vertical pipes due to the tilting, while engineers have found no signs of “distress” in the elevator system.

With the building now tilting 22 inches to the west, experts predict the sewer problem will get worse, as the tilting has flattened the angle of some drain lines by as much as 25 percent.

Already, drains in the third floor owner’s lounge kitchen are experiencing “some plugging,” Hamburger said in his email summary to city officials, and now must be “maintained with periodic chemical flushing.”

“It may be necessary to adjust this and other lines to re-establish slope” Hamburger noted in a presentation he gave to city officials.

“There’s an issue of not having enough slope or too much slope, you can have problems either way,” says Mark Savel, an architect and contractor with three decades’ experience of analyzing building failures, like the 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse.

“You can expect a clog or the system to back up — that’s why the existing system should be inspected and monitored,” Savel says.

In the meantime, residents risk losing entire wood floors and walls given the health hazard associated with any massive backups, Savel says. He adds, the risk is especially high when people use the system at once.

“Those days when you have the house full of people, celebrate a holiday or have a special occasion,” he says, “that’s the day you end up calling Roto-Rooter. Because the system you have is being put to the ultimate test.”

Savel says building managers should first order a video inspection of all the lines with an eye to identify immediate risks and long-term problems.

Any final fix, he says, which would mean adjusting the level of hundreds of pipes to allow for proper flow, should await a full stabilization of the sinking and tilting structure.

The post Tilting Millennium Tower in San Francisco Faces New Plumbing Drawback – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

A new problem may be bubbling up for residents of the lurching Millennium Tower in downtown San Francisco.

The building’s tilt — now about 22 inches to the west due to the northwest corner sinking about 18 inches — may be causing lateral sewage pipes to not drain correctly and has already resulted in “some plugging” on the third floor, according to a letter from the chief engineer to the city, obtained by NBC News.

A separate San Francisco Department of Building Inspection report filed Aug. 27, obtained by SFGATE, saw “evidence of water intrusion through the basement walls of the subterranean levels and signs of past settlement,” from the tower’s earlier sinking.

“The team identified several areas in which seals on building drains exiting the building appeared to be leaking ground water from outside the building to the inside,” the report reads. The team also observed “water seepage from the basement wall into the sewage ejector room.”

The letter states that the inspectors “did not find any observable variation” from their previous inspection in March.

Doug Elmets, spokesperson for the Millennium Tower homeowners’ association, told SFGATE that the document “clearly states that DBI found no changes in piping since their last inspection which occurred in March 2021.”

Chief engineer Ronald Hamburger added, “there are not current effects that compromise either building safety or habitability. As settlement and tilting has now returned to pre-construction levels, we do not anticipate any will occur.”

In the email from Hamburger, obtained by NBC, the engineer told the city that “sewer lines must slope (minimum of 1/8” per foot) to enable efficient flow of material,” and that at-risk drains “will experience slope decreased and may become a problem.” He added that third floor drains that have seen plugging must be “maintained with periodic chemical flushing.”

The news comes after the tower abruptly sank another inch over a period of weeks in July in the middle of the massive foundation fix on the tower, causing work to stop. A report found that the fix itself was likely causing further sinking. The moratorium came after 39 of the 52 new piles had been installed as part of the $100 million “perimeter pile upgrade.”

Supervisor Aaron Peskin has called for a new independent review of the project. “I would like there to be a pause until we know what we’re doing, and I think that construction should not resume until we can panel the best experts that this country has,” Peskin told KPIX.

The August halted on the construction fix was initially planned to last two to four weeks. It is now unclear when it might resume.

The post The tilting on San Francisco’s Millennium Tower is inflicting a plumbing drawback appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Engineers are working to stabilize a luxury San Francisco apartment building that is tilting about three inches per year, the AP reports.

Why it matters: At the current rate, the 58-story, 419-unit Millennium Tower is on track to reach a 40-inch tilt in a few years, which could render elevators and plumbing unusable, according to AP.

• Residents have sued the developer and designers regarding the troubled building.
• The building, located on Mission Street in the city’s financial district, opened to residents in 2009, according to NBC.

Details: The tower’s foundation sits on sand, soil and clay, which is compressing rapidly. Engineers on the project have proposed slashing the number of support piles and anchoring them into bedrock 250 feet below the structure to stabilize it.

• The tower had already sunk 16 inches into the ground in 2016, with a 6-inch lean at the top of the building, per AP. It is now tilting 26 inches north and west, per NBC.
• A review of the building’s structural issues found a one- to four-day delay between excavating soil around the building and replacing it with grout could have worsened the leaning, an NBC investigation found.
• The delay went against protocol and “could very well explain the comparatively rapid settlement and tilting that occurred during pile installation in August,” according to NBC.

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Engineers are working to stabilize a luxury San Francisco apartment building that is tilting about three inches per year, the AP reports.

Why it matters: At the current rate, the 58-story, 419-unit Millennium Tower is on track to reach a 40-inch tilt in a few years, which could render elevators and plumbing unusable, according to AP.

• Residents have sued the developer and designers regarding the troubled building.
• The building, located on Mission Street in the city’s financial district, opened to residents in 2009, according to NBC.

Details: The tower’s foundation sits on sand, soil and clay, which is compressing rapidly. Engineers on the project have proposed slashing the number of support piles and anchoring them into bedrock 250 feet below the structure to stabilize it.

• The tower had already sunk 16 inches into the ground in 2016, with a 6-inch lean at the top of the building, per AP. It is now tilting 26 inches north and west, per NBC.
• A review of the building’s structural issues found a one- to four-day delay between excavating soil around the building and replacing it with grout could have worsened the leaning, an NBC investigation found.
• The delay went against protocol and “could very well explain the comparatively rapid settlement and tilting that occurred during pile installation in August,” according to NBC.

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The engineer trying to stabilize the Millennium Tower, a luxury residential skyscraper in San Francisco that is sinking into the ground and now leaning over two feet off of center, said the building is now tilting three inches per year.

Structural engineer Ronald O. Hamburger made the comments Thursday at a city hearing in which he pitched an updated fix for the building’s foundation, NBC Bay Area reported.

The 58-story, 645-foot tall tower — opened to residents in 2009 — is now tilting 26 inches north and west at Fremont and Mission Streets in the heart of San Francisco’s financial district, according to NBC Bay Area.

Residents were informed that the building is settling unevenly and more than anticipated in 2016. The tower sits beside the Salesforce Transit Center, a bus terminal and potential future rail terminus for California’s high speed rail network currently under construction.

But efforts to stabilize the sinking and leaning skyscraper seemed to worsen matters. Engineers halted construction on the fix in summer 2021 so they could “determine why increased foundation movement was occurring and how this could be mitigated.”

To relaunch the stabilization, Hamburger on Thursday proposed slashing the number of support piles beneath the tower from 52 to 18 to “minimize additional building settlement.”

A letter to the Millennium Tower’s general manager last month said the new, quicker fix was needed after engineers identified two potential causes for apparent worsening of the building’s settlement: “vibration of the soils associated with pile installation activity, and unintentional removal of excessive soil as the piles were installed.”

Hamburger said the 18 steel piles will be anchored into bedrock 250 feet under the tower, cutting through rapidly compressing clay and sand soil that the building’s foundation sits upon today.

In a question and answer document, the engineer said if more than 18 piles are installed, “the construction schedule will be extended, and the building will settle and tilt a little more during this period.”

“We judge that the 18-pile solution offers an optimal solution between additional settlement and benefit gained.”

In an exclusive investigation, NBC Bay Area reported Wednesday that an expert review of the perimeter pile upgrade plan found there was a one- to four-day-long delay in summer 2021 between excavating the soil for the existing six pilings and injecting grout to minimize soil collapse.

That gap between excavating and injecting grout went against protocol and “could very well explain the comparatively rapid settlement and tilting that occurred during pile installation in August.”

In an email, Douglas Elmets, spokesperson for the Millennium Tower Homeowners Association, said the perimeter pile plan won’t stop the building’s sinking “until the piles are driven into bedrock and attached to the foundation, which will occur later this year.”

In a Thursday letter to the Millennium Tower Association, the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection said it approved a modified procedure to continue the preexisting pilot pile installation plan, and was reviewing Hamburger’s revised retrofit proposal.

In a statement to NBC News, spokesperson Patrick Hannan said SFDBI and the Engineering Design Review Team are “currently reviewing the proposed revised plan — which we only recently received.”

“Assuming we continue to receive information in a timely manner, we aim to complete our review by February 28 … the new proposal will need a revised permit to proceed,” Hannan added.

SFDBI said they would inspect between each additional pilot pile installation to ensure work was proceeding as expected.

NBC News reported in 2016 via a public records request that the Millennium Tower was previously expected by its builders to settle a maximum of 5.5 inches by the year 2028.

Tim Fitzsimons is a reporter for NBC News. he/him

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What’s to impress the 14th-century Leaning Tower of Pisa with its leaning when there is a modern building that leans even more? San Francisco’s Millennium Tower, one of the city’s most dazzling residential buildings, now leans more than two feet north and west and continues to lean at a rate of three inches per year as it sinks into the ground. In fact, it’s already dropped between 17 and 18 inches. If the problem is not addressed, the building could eventually tilt 40 inches, the maximum it takes to function and most likely for the elevators and plumbing to work.

The Millennium Tower is located in San Francisco’s Financial District at Fremont Street and Mission Street and adjacent to the Salesforce Transit Center and a bus terminal. It is a 58-story, 645-foot tower and the tallest residential building in the city. It debuted to fanfare in 2009 and has its fair share of illustrious residents, including sports figure Joe Montana and Giants outfielder Hunter Pence.

In a contradiction that defies all odds, data shows about 10 inches of the entire 26-inch dip happened last year after work to stop the sinking. In an investigative report, NBC Bay Area revealed that drill logs show a one to four day gap between drilling and grout installation. In the article, the NC Bay Area stated, “While Millennium Fix officials did not address the issue to the authorities, some outside experts say such delays in grouting may well explain the comparatively rapid settlement and inclination experienced during the August piling installation.” performed.”

Construction crews gather for a meeting while working on the Millennium Tower to stabilize the foundation of the 645-foot tower.

Photo: Getty Images/San Francisco Chronicle

Repair engineer Ron Hamburger has admitted his team didn’t instruct contractors they hired, Shimmick Construction, on how to keep the tower from sinking and tipping while they drilled and dug into the ground. He told city regulators, “The procedures for installing piles were basically the prerogative of the contractor.”

“We didn’t tell them how to install piles,” Hamburger continued. “We specified that we needed piles of a certain diameter and strength. And he basically made these as a design build to install the stakes where he laid out the methods he would use to install them.

At this point, Hamburger says installing 18 steel tubes on bedrock 250 feet below the tower is the best way to stop — and maybe even reverse — some of the tilt. “The building continues to settle at a rate of about half an inch per year and tilt at a rate of about three inches per year,” Hamburger said in a public statement. “This happens regardless of whether we work on site or not,” he continued. “While the building remains secure, we believe the project needs to resume construction and complete this construction quickly.”

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection has approved Hamburger’s proposal to install the 18 pipes and plans to inspect them after the project is complete.

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