By Kim Slowley | Drive
Cracks in a window at the 36th floor of the beleaguered Millennium Tower in San Francisco has launched a new round of inspections and engineering evaluations of the high-rise, which has been leaning and sinking since it opened in 2009, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
An architecture and engineering firm hired by the skyscraper’s residents has yet to reach a conclusion as to the cause of the cracks, leaving open the possibility that it could be related to structural issues caused by the building’s settling, a defect in the material or the result of an isolated event. Once someone from the company has rappelled down the side of the building, taped over the crack and performed an exterior inspection and evaluation, the firm will update the city’s Department of Building Inspection (DBI). The Millennium’s management sent residents an email in which it said its own experts determined that the cracks were not related to the structure’s settlement and, instead, planned to examine window assembly and installation.
The DBI sent management a letter on Sept. 12 requiring it to install an overhead protection system around the perimeter of the building by Sept. 13, repair a window washing crane in order to help inspectors examine the window from outside by Sept. 14 and complete a search for additional cracks or façade damage by Sept. 14. After pushback by management attorneys against the DBI’s threat of a yellow-tag, which would limit access to the building, the DBI reportedly eased up on its deadlines and said it would give the Millennium organization more time to achieve the requirements.
