# SF Highrise Sinks 16" and Shifts 2"



## jar546 (Aug 2, 2016)

Does anyone have any information a little closer to the sources on this one?

A newly built high-rise residential tower in San Francisco that's home to famed 49ers' quarterback Joe Montana and Giants' outfielder Hunter Pence is slowly sinking and shifting, and may ignite a court battle between residents and the city.

The 58-story Millennium Tower, located at 301 Mission Street just south of the city's financial district, was completed in 2008 and has sunk 16 inches and shifted 2 inches to the northwest since opening, according to a report issued by an independent consultant obtained by KTVU-TV.

The owners of the $350 million building told KTVU the construction next door of the Transbay Transit Center, a $4.5 billion project to serve as a hub of mass transit, has caused the ground movements.

P.J. Johnston, spokesman for Millennium Partners, which built the tower, told KTVU in a written statement that the transit center has been a negative impact on the luxury high-rise.

"All buildings settle over time," the statement said. "However, 301 Mission exists in a location where major underground construction work was subsequently performed by others, who were obligated to monitor and protect existing structures, and to mitigate any impacts of their work. 301 Mission has settled more than originally anticipated because it was affected by such subsequent construction by others."

The Millennium Tower Association, the building's home owners association, told the television station it has hired its own group of consultants to try and figure out what's going on.

"The Association has retained a number of engineering consultants to investigate the causes and long-term impact of these settlement conditions," the group said in a written statement. "Importantly, the Association has been assured that there are currently no short or long-term concerns with regard to building integrity or safety."

The HOA added that it is exploring its legal option and could pursue damages from several parties, including the developer, the original design professionals, the original contractors and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.

In a response, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority said Monday that residents' claims against the TJPA are "misplaced; as demonstrated by data collected over more than seven years," adding that "full responsibility for the tilting and excessive settlement of the building lies with Millennium Partners, the developer of the Tower."

The transit authority also said the high-rise is made of concrete rather than steel, "resulting in a very heavy building. This heavy structure rests on layers of soft, compressible soil. The foundation of the Tower, however, consists 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."

*Click for more from KTVU.com.*

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/01/swanky-san-francisco-high-rise-sinking-tilting.html


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## steveray (Aug 2, 2016)

At 16" of settlement, how are the utility connections surviving?


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## cda (Aug 2, 2016)

Guess it was not built on earthquake springs??


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## Francis Vineyard (Aug 2, 2016)

A newly built high-rise residential tower in San Francisco that's home to famed 49ers' quarterback Joe Montana and Giants' outfielder Hunter Pence is slowly sinking and shifting, and may ignite a court battle between residents and the city.

The 58-story Millennium Tower, located at 301 Mission Street just south of the city's financial district, was completed in 2008 and has sunk 16 inches and shifted 2 inches to the northwest since opening, according to a report issued by an independent consultant obtained by KTVU-TV.

The owners of the $350 million building told KTVU the construction next door of the Transbay Transit Center, a $4.5 billion project to serve as a hub of mass transit, has caused the ground movements.

P.J. Johnston, spokesman for Millennium Partners, which built the tower, told KTVU in a written statement that the transit center has been a negative impact on the luxury high-rise.

"All buildings settle over time," the statement said. "However, 301 Mission exists in a location where major underground construction work was subsequently performed by others, who were obligated to monitor and protect existing structures, and to mitigate any impacts of their work. 301 Mission has settled more than originally anticipated because it was affected by such subsequent construction by others."

The Millennium Tower Association, the building's home owners association, told the television station it has hired its own group of consultants to try and figure out what's going on.

"The Association has retained a number of engineering consultants to investigate the causes and long-term impact of these settlement conditions," the group said in a written statement. "Importantly, the Association has been assured that there are currently no short or long-term concerns with regard to building integrity or safety."

The HOA added that it is exploring its legal option and could pursue damages from several parties, including the developer, the original design professionals, the original contractors and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.

In a response, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority said Monday that residents' claims against the TJPA are "misplaced; as demonstrated by data collected over more than seven years," adding that "full responsibility for the tilting and excessive settlement of the building lies with Millennium Partners, the developer of the Tower."

The transit authority also said the high-rise is made of concrete rather than steel, "resulting in a very heavy building. This heavy structure rests on layers of soft, compressible soil. The foundation of the Tower, however, consists 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."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/01/swanky-san-francisco-high-rise-sinking-tilting.html


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## ADAguy (Aug 2, 2016)

How do you enter the building?


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## cda (Aug 2, 2016)

Already hit the east coast news::::




http://www.thebuildingcodeforum.com/forum/threads/sf-highrise-sinks-16-and-shifts-2.13728/


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## Francis Vineyard (Aug 2, 2016)

Topic heading preference


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## Francis Vineyard (Aug 2, 2016)

*Transbay Center denies responsibility for Millennium Tower sinkage*
*Transbay project slaps back at the tipping tower’s accusation*

On the heels of today’s jarring news that the tony Millennium Tower is both tilting and sinking—a rumor that was bandied about for years but confirmed by Matier and Ross—the Transbay Joint Powers Authority issued a strong, pointed statement denying any and all responsibility for “settlement.”

After the TJPA received claims for damages from residents of the Millennium Tower, the TJPA says that, after compiling years’ worth of data, “full responsibility for the tilting and excessive settlement of the building lies with Millennium Partners, the developer of the Tower.”

TJPA fires a lethal blow via a press release, which, in part, states:

The 60-story Millennium Tower is made of concrete rather than steel, resulting in a very heavy building. This heavy structure rests on layers of soft, compressible soil. The foundation of the Tower, however, consists 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. In contrast, the Salesforce Tower and 181 Fremont Tower, also adjacent to the Transit Center, are supported on piles drilled down to bedrock. Millennium Partners’ poor design decision is the cause of the tilt and excessive vertical settlement of the Millennium Tower.

Here’s why the building is sinking, according to the TJPA

[...] When Millennium Partners started construction of the Tower in 2006, they knew that the TJPA intended to excavate adjacent to their building. Nonetheless, Millennium elected short piles that did not reach bedrock. The engineers who designed the foundation for the Millennium Tower predicted that the Tower would settle vertically a maximum of six inches over the life of the building. By the time the TJPA started work on its project in 2010, the Millennium Tower had already settled ten inches – four more inches than Millennium’s engineers predicted over the life of the building. The building has continued to settle vertically, now 16 inches, even after the TJPA completed the excavation for the Transit Center. A foundation of piles down to bedrock would have prevented.

As for the tilt, the Millennium Tower is now tilting northwest, away from the Transit Center, and that tilt is only going to get worse. “Again, had Millennium Partners invested in piles extending to bedrock, the Tower would not be tilting today,” slaps back TJPA.

TJPA goes on to accuse Millennium Partners of being willfully ignorant, saying that “*ecause the TJPA has shared with Millennium Partners its data monitoring the Tower’s settlement and the causes of the settlement, Millennium Partners has been fully aware of the extent of, and reasons for, the Tower’s unusual settlement.”

In the original Matier and Ross piece, TJPA says that the Millennium Partners frugal-like ways during construction is why the building is sinking today.

In other words, the cheap came out expensive. And how.

http://sf.curbed.com/2016/8/1/12345844/millennium-tower-sinking-transbay*


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## ADAguy (Aug 3, 2016)

Didn't a similar though not the same value engineering issue show up on the Condo tower next to one of the Bay bridges? Glass was changed affecting without considering the HVAC design impact. Cost cutting can "bite" you with overlooked unintended results. Beware designing condos, LA's downtown boom is waiting for the "rise of the defect" attorney's.


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## Mark K (Aug 3, 2016)

My belief that when the dust settles we will find that the safety of the building is not compromised and that some work will be done to adjust the grades at the entrance to the building and to compensate for the impact on adjacent utilities in the street.

Original design had contemplated 4 to 8 inches of settlement.   While 16 inches is more than expected there should be no safety concern unless there is ongoing settlement.

Some have been concerned about the report that the building is 2 inches out of plumb.  I suggest that this may be less than construction tolerance for a 58 story building.  It is definitely less than expected wind drift.

Bottom line this is a tempest in a tea pot.


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## ADAguy (Aug 3, 2016)

But where there is smoke there are firefighters/attorneys seeking the source of a fire or a payday.
This isn't a BBQ. Imagine the funds in the HOA's chest and loss of resale value.


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## conarb (Aug 3, 2016)

Mark, you made me think back, I think this takes architects and engineers to address, all I can say is back in the 70s when construction defect litigation was going crazy it started with cheaply built condos and moved to custom homes, it seemed like every custom home builder was getting sued including myself, in fact I found out this weekend that the guy who sued me in 1984 filed bankruptcy in 2012 and he and his wife were ordered into credit counseling by the bankruptcy court that sold the home for less than half of what it should be worth, I told my attorney about it and he said the guy appears to ahve been a con man all along, he couldn't afford the house in the first place and was trying to get a free house out of me.  I was a union contractor at the time and a gated community named Blackhawk was being built outside of Danville non-union, he told me on several occaisons about going out to Blackhawk and how much cheaper they were building with non-union labor.  Eventually some builder lost a huge suit there, then the owners would get together at the Country Club or at private cocktail parties and talk about people getting free homes just by suing the contractor. One guy hired an attorney who used me as his expert, I met the guy and his wife as they were finish up the house, after walking though the house I told them the work was above trade standards, it was well ahead of normal time limits, and their complaints weren't even valid. He got furious with me and as I left he came running after me saying "Come with me!" We went across the street to another new home built by the same builder, he had a key and unlocked the door, we walked into the house and he asked: "What do you think of this?" I said: "well it certainly isn't as nice as yours but is a home worth half what yours is," He then shouted: "The owner sued the (same) builder here and got this house for nothing, and I'm going to do the same thing. You're fired and I'm going to find another expert who will testify that my house is defective and if you come back against me I'll sue your for everything you're worth. I told the attorney what was going on and he dropped him as a client, I never heard whether he got his house for nothing, I do know that he refused to pay the attorney or me which was fine with both of us.

Maybe too many cocktail parties in that building and the owners got together to get free condos?


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## Mark K (Aug 4, 2016)

Mid 80's was retained to look at houses at Blackhawk that had foundation settlement problems.  I suggested that the structural engineer who was their target had done nothing bad.  The lawyer paid me off and did not call me again.  A significant part of the damages claimed was due to the loss of value resulting from the fact that the houses were involved in litigation.


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## conarb (Aug 4, 2016)

Mark K said:


> Mid 80's was retained to look at houses at Blackhawk that had foundation settlement problems.  I suggested that the structural engineer who was their target had done nothing bad.  The lawyer paid me off and did not call me again.  A significant part of the damages claimed was due to the loss of value resulting from the fact that the houses were involved in litigation.


Mark:

Since you know Blackhawk you know that the original layout had a few hilltops with mansions to be situated on them looking down on lesser millionaires, the original development group took in some ex-Raiders to appear at Board of Supervisors to get it through approvals, one of the principals' wives was an Oakland Museum docent along with my wife, we talked a lot since she was always coming by or I was taking calls, I was asked out there during the grading and questioned the soils compaction on the fill portions of the hilltops, I considered as one fo the builders so followed it closely, eventually after they actually secured the approvals Ken Behring came from Florida to develop it, Ken brought DeBene with him from Florida and DeBene was supposed to do the majority of the construction, as the first developed area, Hidden Oaks was started I was originally selected by a man to build the first hilltop home in the main Country Club, the architect everyone wanted was* Doug Dahlin*, he had just designed the main Club House, I made a presentation with my architect but the wife demanded Dahlin as the architect even though the man preferred me and my architect, in the end the woman, who drove around in her Rolls Royce, prevailed and Dahlin and his builder won out.  At the time I was on the site which was all cut off the top of the hill and filled around to create a level hilltop, grading was compete and I could see settlement already in the fill portions and pointed it out, I was told to just site the house on the cut portion nobody cares if the yard settles.  I became involved a second time on another hilltop, DeBene was supervising the grading and also building Hidden Oaks, eventually he hired one of my former carpenters, DeBene was supposed to build Behring's first house called Xanadu and designed by Dahlin, one of my former carpenters was DeBene's superintendent  and told DeBene that they didn't have the carpenters capable of building Xanadu recommending me, I looked at the plans and met with the DeBenes but they didn't want to pay enough, they told me if I built Behring's house at cost I'd get tons of work in Blackhawk and make a fortune, I've heard that story before and left without even going on his hilltop to see if they had done anything on the grading, I've often wondered what would have happened had I made that deal.

You are correct in that there were real soils issues at first, but eventually they were suing over everything, I saw one lawsuit by a famous sports personality that listed floor damage from alcoholic drink spills as a defect worthy of a million dollars, looking at the damage there is no way he would even refinish the floors, he would just pocket the settlement money,


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## cda (Nov 3, 2016)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/city-sues-developer-sinking-leaning-luxury-high-rise/story?id=43287964


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## mark handler (Nov 3, 2016)

Structural REASONING....
http://sf.curbed.com/2016/9/16/12945600/why-millennium-tower-sinking


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## Msradell (Nov 3, 2016)

Just so other people realize, this technique isn't unusual at all.  Jeddah Tower which is being built in Egypt is going to be over 1000 m tall and it uses friction piles for support! Obviously there are an awful lot of them and they are very deep and some other techniques such as barrette's are also used for support but it depends completely on friction to stay on top of sand!


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## mark handler (Nov 4, 2016)

sradell said:


> Just so other people realize, this technique isn't unusual at all.  Jeddah Tower which is being built in Egypt is going to be over 1000 m tall and it uses friction piles for support! Obviously there are an awful lot of them and they are very deep and some other techniques such as barrette's are also used for support but it depends completely on friction to stay on top of sand!


Yes but the jeddah tower may not be built in sedimentary fill from infill of a swamp area.


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## mark handler (Nov 4, 2016)

By the way, it is now sunk 18 not 16 inches.. and the city has filed a lawsuit against the developers.


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## cda (Nov 5, 2017)

There was a good piece on 60 minutes today

11/5

Will there be a fix,,,

And who will pay for it


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## cda (Nov 5, 2017)

I am not an engineer but::


"The problem can be remedied by drilling 50 to 100 new piles down to bedrock from the building’s basement," the Chronicle reports. 



“””””””"Each pile would be anywhere from 10 inches to a foot in diameter."”””””””   ??????


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## ADAguy (Nov 6, 2017)

They want to support it on pencils?


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