SF's Millennium Tower now tilting more than ever to the west after early recovery

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

SF's Millennium Tower now tilting more than ever to the west after early recovery
While the tower appears stable on the Mission side, new rooftop-based monitoring data shows the tower is now tilting a half inch more to the west than before being supported on the north side.

Despite initial progress in the first phase of the so-called fix earlier this year, the sinking and leaning Millennium Tower in San Francisco is now tilting more to the west than ever, according to monitoring data reviewed by NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit.

The tower is currently leaning more than 29 inches at the northwest corner of Fremont and Mission streets, much of the added tilt occurring during the digging needed to prepare to support the tower along two sides.

But earlier this year, fix engineers saw signs of progress when the building was partially supported by six piles sunk along the base of its north side along Mission Street. While the tower appears stable on the Mission side, new rooftop-based monitoring data shows the tower is now tilting a half inch more to the west than before being supported on the north side.


“As far as remedial work goes, this is just a mess,” said veteran geotechnical engineer Bob Pyke, a long time skeptic of the $100 million plan to fix the troubled tower. “You spend all this money, but you still have an uncertain result long term.”

In responding to questions about the tower, engineers in charge of the project cast doubt on the reliability of the rooftop-based data they had cited when they declared some early success.

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/series/millennium-tower/san-francisco-millennium-tower-more-tilting/3249034/

[Blues Heron]

1. Its time for a do over- tear it down and start fresh.

Who would set foot in that building after this?

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

3. 100s live in it.

[Blues Heron]

5. that must be their collective IQ

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. "As far as remedial work goes, this is just a mess," said veteran geotechnical engineer Bob Pyke.

Could you break that down for us in less technical terms, Bob?

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

6. I have a wobbly table, when I put folded paper under one leg, another gets wobbly

the engineer can use that analogy.

[sarcasmo]

13. I have a 100 million dollar plan that will fix that wobbly table.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

15. LOL!!! Have your construction team send me the specs

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

10. Bob Pyke speaks here

[Tetrachloride]

4. if it falls, is there insurance? a billion?

Do the neighbors care ?

Who actually lives there ?

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

7. mostly well off people live there, I'm sure most would like to sell but would have to take a loss

some have eaten the loss and sold.

prices from 700K to 14M - so all levels of income live there. 700K is normal house price in CA.

[lucca18]

16. I think Joe Montana lives there.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Can't they just slice 29" out of one lower floor?

LOL.

Or pound in 29" of wedges? Like moving a tree in the desired direction.

Bottle jacks?

Or stabilizing cables or steel beams with a massive corkscrew come-along to another building or rock area?

I'm fishing, of course, but injecting foundation concrete doesn't seem to be working.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

9. more details here

[bucolic_frolic]

11. Thanks! It's a big toy for structural engineers

[Buns_of_Fire]

12. Once again, I turn to Idiocracy for the obvious solution...

[Hekate]

14. In the Land of Earthquakes, I would not want to live anywhere in its shadow...

Take a protractor to the map with that foolishness at the center and draw a big circle using its height as the radius. (I think I said that right. It’s been mumble decades since high school Geometry.) Nope. No thanks. Not buying anything there until that thing is red-tagged and taken down.