One engineer’s explanation…
Uh this comment will certainly not fly or prevent any of the units from literally falling…
"Both the most practical and radical idea: do nothing. If we eventually conclude that the building isn’t in any real danger (as Millennium Partners has insisted all along), it could stand at least as long as any other high-rise.
Pacifying the homeowners would be a feat perhaps beyond the means of mere engineering."
The explanation was from an architect who literally doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground…The whole rotation theory is pure bullshit. .The only info he has is from journalists at the Times
Well, intrepid Iowa State University architectural design professor Tom Leslie (who noticed the building’s woes after reading the recent New York Times story) has now explained it via the simplest analogy possible, that of a mere stick.
I loved the comment, just do nothing. Thank god one of the Salesforce towers is in between me and that POS or it is time to work from home a lot more…
Time for another ballot measure to bail out the Millennium owners.
They did nothing on the Leaning Tower of Pisa for 500 years…The Millennials may find their tower…could become an iconic building…Trump should buy it…He is such a good deal maker…could be huuuuge!!!..lol
NBC news is saying state agencies knew it was wrong. The state agency and developer signed confidentiality agreements with each other, so they couldn’t be forced to testify. This is going to get ugly. City may file lawsuit against the state.
I wonder how the human race survived for a million years without lawyers and government bureaucrats holding their hands…
Humans used to drop dead at age 30 in most of those million years. Count me out for nostalgia.
So you think lawyers and bureaucrats extend life…Personally I think they are blood sucking leaches that shorten lives…Doctors, engineers, innovative ideas and science extend life
No. What I meant is things come in packages. Sometimes you don’t get to cherrypick. If you have nostalgia for the past, at least own up to the many not-so-pretty aspects of it too.
Who knows if lawyers are in the longer lasting profession down the road (hope not, but…) . They’re less prone to obsolescence and automation. Seems we still rely on them to get any party to take responsibility for this mess.
Developer made 20% profit on the building, prices have doubled or so since the units first came on the market in 2009 (owners appreciated), builder won the contract on transbay center by underbidding… yet who is going to bear the burden of fixing the building?
Well, that was my concern voiced when I first started the tread. I fear the taxpayers of San Francisco may end up ponying up if in fact the SF Building and Panning Dept is determined to have played a part in this somehow. I suppose it is still early in the game to determine outcome. Many lawyers will get fed (and well) before we can close the tread. Will we actually be able to close this tread?
What bothers me is that everyone who is supposedly an expert or have an architectural background in this mess or field seems to forget some very basic facts about where we are (earthquake country) and what kind of soil we have around here especially down by the Financial District and waterfront. Why would anyone take the chance or gamble and build THE FOUNDATION that the whole freaking building is resting on in such a fashion that while acceptable to code perhaps but counters real logic? If anything, you go OVERBOARD (just like the neighboring Salesforce Tower) and make the darn thing super strong not just what is supposedly “to code.” This is not a mere case of oh if a tenant doesn’t like the light fixture we can switch it. How do you fix a sinking foundation of a 50+ story hi-rise???
As recent as 1950, government spending was under $300/person. Adjusted for inflation that’d be $2,400/person. It’s $11k/person. Government is growing faster than everything.
First of all bedrock is a lay term…Underlying soils in the BA are rarely bedrock like say granite in New England. .Second over 90% of pile supported structures are driven to refusal not bedrock… Usally drilled cassons are used to found the structure in bedrock…Hey whatever. …The tower has made everyone money so far, now its the lawyers turn…lol. .then it will be Hollywood’s turn with the the Leaning Tower of Zombies movie
If bedrock is lay term what is the technical term? Bedrock is a real thing regardless of what you call it. I’m not saying you must always drill to granite, might not even exist everywhere
Ok, let’s add the term “dewatering” to our vocab and the discussion…
Well, according to this guy the state of the art is not drilling to bedrock…
Let the Games begin!!!
God, most of these buffoons are Chinese… i am so embarrassed
(It’s the NYT but honestly there is little SF coverage, and Curbed doesn’t seem to be an authority on building structures either 
)
Hanson Tom, the city’s principal engineer, said that at the time Millennium Tower was being constructed the developers had not agreed to a review by outside experts on the soil conditions or the foundations of the building and that the city had no laws to compel them to conduct these reviews.
The city was not prepared to assess the structural integrity of the Millennium Tower because it was one of the first skyscrapers erected in the business district, officials said.
“We didn’t have anything in place from a regulatory perspective on how to deal with buildings of this nature,” said Ronald Tom, the deputy director of the city’s department of building inspection.
The city now relies on outside experts to verify the structural integrity of proposed skyscrapers because they do not have the technology to verify the computer models used by developers.
But the hearing on Thursday did not clarify why city officials had declared the building safe for occupancy despite the problems with the foundation. Aaron Peskin, the San Francisco supervisor who called Thursday’s hearing, said the inquiry would continue in the coming weeks.
The tilting tower has produced introspection among engineers in part because when the building was completed the developers received at least nine awards for “excellence in structural engineering,” among other citations.
Gosh, the engineers have lost their credibility…Maybe they should consult the pros in Japan at Obayashi… Where are the experts???
They were talking about it on CNBC today. There was an investor advisor that was telling clients to buy properties in the building now. They are really cheap (relative to normal price), and it’ll go back up in value once the issues are resolved. I’m pretty sure you’d have to be a cash buyer at this point.