ASSIGNMENT 3

CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN
ARCHITECTURE
OF

MILLENIUM TOWERS
SAN FRANCISCO

NANSHAL BAJAJ
F.Y. B.ARCH SEC: B
ROLL NO.: 170044
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE I
S.B.P.C.O.A.D.
 Article:
Millennium Tower homeowners association sues,
seeking over $200 million to fund repairs

Timeline of the Lawsuit:

• The tower opened to the public in April 2009.

• All was well until 2010, when construction began on the
Salesforce Transit Center (formerly the Transbay Transit
Center) next door.

• Their report found that the tower had sunk 10 inches into
the ground — 4 inches more than the builders had
predicted for the entire lifetime of the structure.
• In 2014, a nine-month independent safety review
determined that the sinking did not pose a safety risk.
• More unsettling news came in 2015, when residents
learned that the building had sunk 16 inches and tilted 2
inches to the northwest.
• The reports kicked off a feud between the tower's
developer, Millennium Partners, and the Transbay Joint
Powers Authority.
• Millennium Partners claims the construction of
the Salesforce Transit Center is responsible for
the sinking.

• The Transbay Authority has cast blame in the

opposite direction, arguing that the tower was built on
an unstable foundation.​
• In August 2016, residents filed a class-action
lawsuit against Millennium Partners, claiming the
developers were aware of the sinking as early as 2008.​
• Months later, the city attorney, Dennis Herrera,
filed a similar suit.​
• Hall of Famer Joe Montana also sued
the developer, seeking a $2.7 million reimbursement for
his condo and $1 million in "consequential damages."
• In November 2016, the European Space Agency released
satellite imagery that shows the tower sinking at a rate of
two inches per year.​​

• In July 2017, a report claimed once again that the building

was safe, as residents complained of unexplained odors
and openings in the walls.​​
• To stop the tilting, engineers proposed a $200
to $500 million renovation.​​
• In September 2018, an apartment owner detected a large
crack in his window on the high-rise's 36th floor.​​

• That same month, the San Francisco Superior Court ruled

that the Transbay Authority must pay a portion
of Millennium Partners' legal bills.​​
• To date, nine lawsuits have been filed in relation
to the tower's tilting and sinking.
Outcomes of the Lawsuit:

• On December 4, 2018, Ronald Hamburger, the senior

principal engineer at Simpson Gumpertz Heger, revealed in
a press release on a final resolution to the Millennium
Tower's tilting and sinking problem by underpinning the
building.
• The solution will involve the installation of 52 piles along
the north and west sides of the tower beneath the
sidewalk that reach down 250 ft (76.2 m) into the bedrock
of downtown San Francisco and be tied with the original
60-90 ft (18.3-27.4 m) deep foundation piles. It is
estimated that about 50% of the tilt will be evened out
over a period of 10 years as the south and eastern sides of
the building come back into re-alignment with the now
sunken north and western sides of the building, at which
point the remaining south and eastern sides of the building
will be anchored to the bedrock, permanently resolving the
tilting and sinking of the building. The fix will cost about
$100 million.

• The settlement would also require the defendants pay

every homeowner in the building for their estimated losses
caused by the notoriety, McCarthy said, but it is unknown
how much each resident will receive.
References:

• San Francisco Business Times

Roland Li, Mar 29, 2017
• Business Insider, India
Aria Bendix, Oct 11, 2018