For the first time in months, there are signs of hope during the tumultuous saga to repair the Millennium Tower’s sinking disaster in downtown San Francisco.
Officials on Thursday said an initial check to test the efficacy of a new building repair strategy was successful, according to KNTV.
The majestic 58-story Millennium Tower – the tallest residential structure in San Francisco – has infamously sunk 19 inches since it opened in 2009, prompting the city to approve a $100 million fix project last May.
The original plan, named the "perimeter pile upgrade," involved installing 52 concrete piles to stabilize the high rise’s foundation at 301 Mission St., but those repairs were suspended on August 25 because the building had still sunk an additional inch while the construction was ongoing.
The procedure’s shortcoming’s prompted officials to devise a new solution to the tower’s issues – the construction of 36 inch diameter steel casings, plunged 106 feet into the ground near the northwest corner of the tower where the massive dip has occurred.
The station reported that fix designer Ron Hamburger told residents of the skyscraper that the test this week was designed to evaluate whether the casings could be installed "without causing significant building settlement and tilting."
The building only sunk one hundredth of an inch during the test procedure, which Hamburger explained "demonstrates that it is possible to install the remaining casings."
Hamburger said that if a second test is also successful, building repairs will resume.
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