Sinking Millennium Tower: 10 most important things you should know

As the city’s most epic real estate battle begins, there are a few things you should know about the Millennium Tower sink/tilt snafu. After Monday’s news story broke, care of the Chronicle’s Matier and Ross, many of you might still be wondering, "What’s the Millennium Tower? And why should I care?"

Here are ten helpful tidbits you should know about Yerba Buena’s most prestigious high-rise in peril.

• Contrary to the word being tossed around so liberally these days, the Millennium Tower is noted as the most luxurious residential until in San Francisco, arguably all of California.
• The building is filled with moneyed tenants from hero Giants slugger Hunter Pence and, at one time, Joe Montana.
• The 58-story tower has piles driven only into dense sand, not the bedrock, which is why, in part, it tilted and sank ten inches.
• Who doesn’t build into bedrock, seriously?!
• High-rises typically do not settle at this rate; the Petronas Towers (1999), by comparison, sank only two inches

• The building is tilting west and northwest away from the Transit Center, though that’s not visible to the naked eye.
• Millennium Tower has publicly blamed the Transbay Center (TJPA) construction.
• Transbay Center ( has the receipts.
• Neighbors are distancing themselves from the leaning tower.
• Taxpayers could end up paying for the repairs.

And now you know. More to come.

• Millennium Tower is tilting, sinking [Curbed SF]
• Millennium Tower: We were never ‘expected, advised, or required’ to drill into bedrock [Curbed SF]
• Millennium Tower [Curbed SF]
• 181 Fremont issues statement in response to Millennium sinkage: ‘We’re drilled into bedrock’ [Curbed SF]

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