Luxury Skyscraper's Alarming Tilt and Engineering Nightmare

[Tom D]

Millennium Tower Sinking: The Luxury Skyscraper’s Alarming Tilt and Engineering Nightmare​

Known for its soaring height and luxury residences, San Francisco’s Millennium Tower has become infamous for sinking and tilting at an alarming rate. Rising 200 meters with 58 floors, this prestigious skyscraper was once a symbol of opulence, with apartments selling for millions. However, the building rests on thousands of concrete piles driven into soft marine clay rather than solid bedrock, leading to unprecedented foundation settlement—over 43 centimeters downward with a 35-centimeter tilt in just years. These movements caused structural cracks and broken windows, signaling dangerous stress on critical supports. A massive $100 billion repair plan was launched, involving drilling new piles anchored deep into bedrock, but construction triggered even faster sinking, forcing a halt and sparking fears of catastrophic failure. This modern engineering dilemma echoes the legendary Pisa Tower, highlighting how even the most advanced buildings can face foundational disasters. The saga of Millennium Tower raises pressing questions about urban development on soft soils and the limits of engineering in the face of natural ground conditions.

 

[Mark K]

I'm thinking a couple of floor jacks in the crawl space should remedy the problem.

I saw a special about it not long ago. Those owners are so screwed. There has to be a flock of lawyers swarming the place like buzzards figuring out how to sue everyone from the architects to the drywallers and painters.

 

[John Hassler]

This has been in the local news for many years. It’s a cluster with lots of finger pointing. I recall there was a courtroom issue finding enough seating for all of the plaintiffs lawyers.

 

[Surf Cat]

Whomever tested the soil is soiling their undies...

 

[Joe Flacco]

Pisa is leaning and still standing so it's probably fine.

 

[ucbruin]

Unless you live in the building....

 

[Alsie35]

It's a metaphor for the City of San Francisco itself, sadly. A once nice place destroyed by 3 decades of insane government policies ...

 

[glenn walker]

The Tower of Babble. Probably going to fall over one day during a Pride Parade.

 

[Tom D]

Pisa is leaning and still standing so it's probably fine.

Huh, pisa is a condo highrise? I believe pisa has had supporting additions done to keep the tourist coming. A tilting highrise is like a ship, if everybody runs over to one side, it will flip over.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Whomever tested the soil is soiling their undies...

Prolly not the testers... The civil engineers and architects who designed the foundation without piers going into bedrock...well, they are going to be the most accountable. The problem is the soils near the surface are fairly compact but below that is a very soft clay. So, this clay is squeezing out from under the denser clay above it like toothpaste out of the tube. So, the solution would be to have drilled piers deep and gone through the softer layer into another hard layer. Too late now.