$100M fix could be answer for sinking Millennium Tower | Dump Trucks Charlotte NC

• The new plan would see piles driven into the bedrock below the building from the sidewalk rather than through the structure's concrete foundation as a previous, more costly proposal suggested. The new strategy, formulated by the structural engineer for developer Millennium Partners, would reportedly stop the tower from sinking further but would likely not correct its tilt. The repair would take several months, and would take effort to minimize disruptions to residents, but would not require adjacent streets be closed.
• The Chronicle reported that both the Millennium’s homeowners association and developer have tentatively backed the plan, but that it still has to be submitted to the city for environmental review and permitting approvals. The San Francisco Superior Court judge presiding over many of the lawsuits residents have filed in the matter has pushed back the first scheduled trial so that parties can first concentrate on mediation and trying to come up with a funding plan for repairs.

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The previous plan to fix the structure’s sinking and leaning issues, estimated to cost between $250 million and $500 million, would have seen about 150 piles first driven into the bedrock on one side of the building. Crews would then have given the other side of the building time to sink to a level position before driving the remainder of the piles necessary to secure the building. Coming up with the money for this solution was one worry, but residents also expressed concern about how the building would hold up during the two-year to five-year retrofit process.

Residents and the developer have launched a legal battle against the Transbay Joint Powers Authority claiming that construction — specifically dewatering  — of the temporarily shuttered $2.2 billion Salesforce Transit Center next door is to blame for the Millennium Tower’s woes. And only a few days before two cracked beams were discovered at the transit center, a judge ruled that the authority must pay the Millennium’s legal fees as part of an agreement the two struck a decade ago. In exchange for being granted access to Millennium property during construction of the transit center, the authority agreed to pay the Millennium’s legal bills if it had to defend itself against claims of damage resulting from that access.  

As for the transit center, a lab in New York is currently conducting tests on the cracked beams so that the authority can begin formulating a fix and schedule a reopening of the center to commuters. However, local officials have called for a complete structural review of the center, which could further delay a final resolution.