San Francisco’s Millennium Tower, which was surrounded by controversy since May 2016, is sinking once again.
The building has sunk another inch as the construction to begin addressing the problem just kicked off.
According to building representatives, the construction work has been stopped because of the further sinking, all while the tower may appear unbothered.
The sinking of another inch leaves the building leaning five inches on its uppermost part.
The tower opened in 2009 and as of February 2020, it has already sunk 17 inches.
The problem is being attempted to be addressed with a multi-million dollar construction project. However, “accelerated settlement” “due to construction activities related to the installation of 36-inch and 24-inch casings,” has been observed.
A total of 52 piles drilled 250 feet into the bedrock was included in the construction work. The depth went three-folds further as compared to the present piles used to stop the sinking, but to no avail.
While the sinking might concern some people, tower resident San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown is confident in the construction work to fix the problem.
“Hundred million dollars and it’s the brains of MIT and its entire engineering-trained operation that is doing this kind of work, and have made this assessment to go all the way down to bedrock, most buildings don’t go to bedrock,” the mayor said.
Last 2016, a resident of the tower proved that the building is tilting by putting a golf ball on the floor, which began rolling.
Engineers are trying to determine how to fix the problem as they halted the construction work for around two to four weeks.
According to a representative, the building will have a significant improvement towards stability after the concerns are addressed and the piles are placed, ABC7 reported.
The mayor added that he still feels safe and sleeps fine at night at the building.
