New claims have emerged that a simple $4MM fix should have averted the entire not-so-slow-moving crisis that is San Francisco's Millennium Tower. Folks claim the developer, Millennium Partners, elected to not spend an additional $4MM dollars, a tiny fraction of the total costs of the building, in drilling support footings to bedrock. Instead, as the story goes, the developer elected to keep the $4MM, put a heavy building on mud, and let the taxpayers clean up the mess.
There is a chance they just didn't know, but the engineer in this video seems pretty certain.
Last week it was reported that the current 'fix' will not be successful. An expert on 'deep foundations' claims the Tower's foundation appeared damaged by the lack of support and showed signs of 'dishing' as far back as 2018. The reporter in the video informs us that the sealed nature of the court settlement wherein the funds being used to "fix" the building are detailed prevents us from knowing if this damage was already factored in. As the current plan relies on the integrity of that foundation, it would not seem likely?