MORE ON THE MILLENNIUM TOWER

By Bob Walsh

Regular readers will remember that I recently wrote about the Millennium Tower, avery expensive high-rise condo building in the People’s Republic of San Francisco. Now the S. F. Board of Supervisors has gotten into the act.

Basically the board wants to know why the Building Department allowed the building to be built when it was NOT sunk all the way down to bedrock and why they allowed an occupancy permit to be issued when they knew two months before that permit was issued that the building was settling prematurely and uncharacteristically.

The HOA (Home Owners Association) of the building is seriously considering civil action against the developer, the city, and the transit agency that built the near-by subway station, which they claim added to the problem.

Engineers are now asserting that the building, which has already sunk about 16 inches, may sink another 8 to 15 inches into the landfill on which it is built. The developers originally asserted that the building would not settle more than 6 inches in its lifetime. In addition the 58 story building is now about 2 inches out of plumb.

There will be a Board of Supervisor’s meeting later this month in which officials of the Building Department will be questioned about some unusual aspects of the permitting process.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I have always thought that the whole city of San Francisco was out of plumb.