A brazen homeowner has listed their condo in a rapidly sinking, and precariously tilting high rise for an eye watering $5.6 million.
Apartment #55A at Millennium Tower, dubbed the ‘leaning tower of San Francisco’, has gone on the market for almost double what the current owner paid in 2011, at $3.23 million.
But the condo owner’s listing may be rather optimistic, considering that the 58-story high-rise has sunk 17 inches and tilted 14 inches since it was completed in 2008.
While it’s expected that high-rises will sink over extended periods of time, the sinking of the Millennium Tower is quite unusual and should have only sunk about six inches over a lifetime.
A brazen homeowner has listed their condo in the rapidly sinking, and precariously tilting Millennium Tower, which stands 58-stories high, has been dubbed the ‘leaning tower of San Francisco’
Apartment #55A (pictured) at Millennium Tower, dubbed the ‘leaning tower of San Francisco’, has gone on the market for almost double what the current owner paid in 2011, at $3.23 million
The 2,706-square-foot two-bedroom, three-bath unit features an open-plan kitchen, living, and dining room and generous walkways
Floor to ceiling windows help make the best of the apartment’s 55th story views over the Bay Area
It has been certified as safe to occupy, but the rapidly sinking structure has sparked panic among many homeowers and many are rushing to sell. Residents say that most are selling their apartments for less than what they paid for them – losing$320,000 on average, SF Gate reports.
Yet the owner of #55A,railroad mogul Gary Marino according to property records, is attempting to make a profit on his condo.
The 2,706-square-foot two-bedroom, three-bath unit features an open-plan kitchen, living, and dining room, which makes the best of the apartment’s 55th story views over the Bay Area. There is also a library, remote controlled shades and custom lighting, dual walk in closets, a large laundry room and parking for one car. The building also offers a concierge, fitness center, swimming pool, resident’s lounge with flat screens and private dining room.
Gregg Lynn, a sales broker for #55A, told the Business Times that the current owners have spent lots of money on an extensive renovation on the apartment although they don’t live in the building.
Gregg Lynn, a sales broker for #55A, said that the current owners have spent lots of money on an extensive renovation
The contemporary, luxurious decor may go some way to explain why the owners of the apartment in a building sinking inches every year has upped their price
One of the bedrooms, in the two-bed apartment, offers stunning views over San Francisco
The building also offers a concierge, a resident’s lounge with flat screens and an open fire (pictured)
The luxury doesn’t stop there, as it also has an indoor pool and fitness center, and a private dining room for residents
Yet, the luxurious, spacious apartment is housed in a building that has already sunk three times as much in the past ten years, than most buildings do in their entire lives.
The operators of the building, Millennium Partners, blame construction on the new Transbay Transit Center across the street for the issue. They insisted that ‘all buildings settle over time’ and that the tower had ‘settled more than originally anticipated because it was affected by subsequent construction by others.’
But the Transbay Joint Powers Authority said that the claims were ‘misplaced’ and that the ‘full responsibility for the tilting and excessive settlement’ lies with the developers. They said that before the developers even broke ground on the project, the Millennium Tower had already sunk 10 inches.
They went on to explain that Millennium was built with concrete rather than steel, which results in a very heavy building.
‘This heavy structure rests on layers of soft compressible soil. The foundation of the Tower, however, consists only of a concrete slab supported by short piles that fail to reach the bedrock below. That foundation is inadequate to prevent settlement of a building with the weight of the Tower,’ the statement reads.
In short, the builders of Millennium chose not to dig all the way to bedrock, some 200 feet below, to start their project. Instead, they dug about 80 feet and poured concrete on dense sand. That dense sand is therefore easily compacted by the very heavy finished building.
Stress gauges are placed along a wall with floor-to-ceiling cracks in the parking garage of the Millennium Tower in San Francisco
Millennium Partners defended their decision to to dig to bedrock, saying several other buildings in the downtown area are similarly constructed including the InterContinental and St Regis hotels.
In January, construction crews began drilling near Millennium Tower in a bid to right the tower. They will need to install 150 foundation pillars 200 feet down into the bedrock from the building’s basement to stop further sinkage – a move that could cost an estimated $150 million.
Resident Pamela Buttery noticed something peculiar in 2010, while practicing golf putting in her 57th-floor apartment at the luxurious building. The ball kept veering to the same corner of her living room.
Those were the first signs for residents of the sleek, mirrored high-rise that something was wrong.
‘What concerns me most is the tilting,’ says Buttery, 76, a retired real estate developer. ‘Is it safe to stay here? For how long?’
Ccertified engineering geologist Andrew Mead, right, examines soil samples taken outside the Millennium Tower on September 26, 2016
The tower has sunk 17 inches into the soft soil and landfill of San Francisco’s crowded financial district. But it’s not sinking evenly, which has created a 14 inch tilt.
By comparison, Italy’s famed Leaning Tower of Pisa is leaning more than 16 feet. But in a major earthquake fault zone, the Millennium Tower’s structural problems have raised alarm and become the focus of a public scandal.
Several documents involving the downtown building were leaked in recent weeks, including exchanges between the city’s Department of Building Inspection and Millennium Partners, the developer.
They show both sides knew the building was sinking more than anticipated before it opened in late 2009, but neither made that information public.
In a February 2009 letter, a chief buildings inspector, Raymond Lui, wrote to the tower’s engineering firm to express concerns about ‘larger than expected settlements.’ He asked what was being done to stop the sinking and if the building’s structural safety could be affected.
Jerry Dodson and his wife Pat stand inside their home on the 42nd floor of the Millennium Tower in San Francisco which has begun to lean
DeSimone Consulting Engineers replied that the building had already unexpectedly settled 8.3 inches. But the engineering firm concluded, ‘It is our professional opinion that the structures are safe.’
City Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who has convened hearings on the matter at City Hall, asked Lui why the building was then certified safe for occupancy.
‘We felt they had it under control,’ replied Lui, now employed in San Francisco’s public works department. He did not elaborate.
City officials, owners of the building’s high-end apartments, its developers and politicians are arguing over who is to blame.
When the Millennium Tower opened, it became a haven for the city’s well-heeled, and all 419 apartments quickly sold out. Tenants have included former San Francisco 49er Joe Montana, late venture capitalist Tom Perkins and Giants outfielder Hunter Pence.
The building has a 75-foot indoor lap-pool, a health club and spa, an in-house cinema, and a restaurant and wine bar run by celebrity chef Michael Mina. Penthouses have sold for more than $10 million.
The tower’s troubles are apparent in its five-floor underground garage, where Porsches and Lamborghinis sit near walls bearing floor-to-ceiling cracks, many bracketed by stress gauges to measure growth