In a December 2016 assessment of the issue obtained by NBC Bay Area, Palo Alto-based building consultants Allana Buick & Bers Inc. trace the odors to openings between the building’s façade, or curtain wall, and the core structure.
The consultants point to the “excessive” settlement as a likely source of the issue, adding, “This condition may be more widespread than these two test areas and may be present in the entire stack. We recommend further investigation of this issue.”
— NBC Bay Area
New fire hazards have been found in San Francisco's infamous Millennium Tower, making the luxury high-rise that has sunk 17 inches since 2009 even less safe than previously thought. According to a December 2016 assessment carried out by building consultants Allana Buick & Bers Inc., gaps between the building's walls and structural frame have been found. These openings "represent a breach in the fire and smoke barrier" that in the event of a fire, would allow smoke to jump floors posing a huge safety risk to the occupants.
Allana Buick & Bers Inc. were hired by condo owner Paula Pretlow to assess the tower in order to trace the source of foul orders that had been plaguing the occupant. The consultants discovered that smells were likely coming from gaps that had occurred as a result of the structure's settlement. However, these findings were redacted from the copy of the report they returned to Pretlow.
Pretlow has spent a year in court fighting to see the original reports and after successfully procuring the documents, has issued a new complaint to the fire department. Crews have since removed part of the façade panels in order to examine the claims further and the San Francisco Fire Marshal is expected to visit the building next week to evaluate concerns.
15 Comments
On the plus side, the units are getting much more affordable!
TIL David doesn't know what a friction pile is.
I don't understand how a person can hire a consultant then only get a copy of the report from that consultant that is redacted?
What big urbanist fantasy are we living in where skyscrapers in SF is now ok?
Why would they not be okay?
I ask myself the same about Miami.
Instead of Millenium let's go with Decadium Tower!
This could turn into the most significant construction/design fiasco since the Hancock Boston, the Standard Oil Chicago, Citicorp Center, or the various buildings worldwide using reflective glass or metal.
How about they quick screwing around with people's lives and tear the damn thing down floor by floor. Emergency Order - BUILDING CONDEMNED - IMMEDIATE DECONSTRUCTION TO COMMENCE in 30 days and building to be evacuated and cleared out to commence MONDAY, September 11, 2023 at 9:00 AM and cleared out by Friday, September 15, 2023 at 5:00PM. If building deconstruction has not commenced by 5:00 PM of October 11, 2023, The property owner shall be charged and arrested for criminal negligence for willful disregard of the welfare of the occupants and citizens of San Francisco. Time is up. You can't patch fix this fuck up. Enough is enough.
I'm issuing this order in lieu of incompetent public officials whose incompetence has allowed this to persist. Property owners of this building, you are on notice that time is up. You have serious defects in this building that no certificate of occupancy shall even exist or be valid. The building is an immediate hazard and a present looming hazard to neighboring properties with serious risk of falling over as the building continues to sink AND tilt with rate of increased tilting risk being sufficient rate to pose a risk to other properties and lives.
Public officials responsible for this kind of decisions, it was your job to have issued orders to deconstruct the building in order to safely remove it versus a more hazardous generic demolition process. This should have already several months ago. The fuck up that this building is can't be unfucked but there is still a possibility to unfuck the hazard this building poses by deconstruction. If you want to possibly keep your jobs in the future or continue to work your respective occupations, you might want to officialize this directive, and maybe offset the dates and time by a minor amount of time. You know, days, maybe a week or two but this needs to be prompt and begin before the end of the year. The longer you wait or push this off, the more likely the catastrophic disaster will occur. There is unfixable fuck ups and they aren't fixing it. The owners are already civilly liable. Do these owners really want this to result in them going to prison?
Seriously... I know the property owners won't listen but maybe the politician staff members grow a spine and put the fire under the feet of these owners... but I won't hold my breath.
I assume that the "owners" are the individual condo owners and the association, not the builder/developer. But in all likelihood the "real" owners are the banks as the value of the units are far less than loans that might have been placed on them. Of course the banks do not want to foreclose and become owners with the liability.
Now recall that this is San Francisco and lenders have a major interest and the political folks have a strong incentive to not have them bear the burden.
What are the alternatives . If the top floors were removed would the settlement end?
The real test will be to obtain a professional analysis that examines the alternatives , including cost, and either helps facilitate a settlement or determines that the the best and legal avenue is to demolish the building.
Lots of attorneys are going to send their kids to the best private schools before these issues are resolved.
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