An independent engineering review team has given its nod to the San Francisco Dept. of Building Inspection regarding permitting of the proposed $100-million structural shoring scheme for the 645-ft-tall Millennium Tower—which has settled 17.3 in. over more than a decade.
Allana Buick & Bers, a forensic engineer hired by the Millennium Tower Association, says the cracked window glass in Unit 36B of the San Francisco residential building was caused by an exterior impact.
The 58-story Millennium Tower in the Transbay district of San Francisco, which has sunk 18 in. and is tilting 2 in., is under even more scrutiny for possible structural defects since a window on the 36th floor cracked.
Projects sited in areas with the worst soil—in high-risk seismic zones and subject to liquefaction—would require more than one geotechnical engineer on the peer-review team.
The city and county Dept. of Building Inspection issued interim guidelines and procedures for structural, geotechnical and seismic-hazard engineering design review for new buildings 240 ft or taller.
San Francisco’s Millennium Tower, a 658-ft-tall residential building at Mission and Fulton streets, has settled 16 in. and tilted 2 in. toward the northwest since completion in 2009 while garnering lawsuits and recriminations about the foundation design and possible impact of an excavation for the nearby Transbay Transit Center.
The 645-ft Millennium Tower—the tallest reinforced concrete structure in the Western United States—is sinking and tilting, and the building owner places the blame squarely on the adjacent Transbay Transit Center project.