
San Francisco Files Lawsuit Against Sinking Millennium Tower - EduardoBautista
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/us/san-francisco-files-lawsuit-against-sinking-millennium-tower.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=1&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F11%2F04%2Fus%2Fsan-francisco-files-lawsuit-against-sinking-millennium-tower.html&eventName=Watching-article-click
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JumpCrisscross
> _Engineers have questioned the wisdom of building skyscrapers with
> foundations in mud and clay. A skyscraper being constructed next door has
> made it clear that its foundation, unlike the Millennium Tower, reaches down
> to bedrock._

Even in the "valleys" below Manhattan, where the bedrock is deeper than
downtown and midtown, skyscrapers must be anchored to the bedrock [1]. For all
of San Francisco's development brouhaha, it appears that when the political
stars align its regulation is light.

(The conventional wisdom, "that Manhattan developed two business centers--
downtown and midtown--because bedrock is close to the surface in these
locations," is wrong. "Bedrock depths [have] very little influence on the
creation of separate business districts; rather its poly-centric development
was due to residential and manufacturing patterns, and public transportation
hubs...[there is] evidence, however, that bedrock depths influenced the
placement of skyscrapers _within_ business districts" (emphasis mine).)

[1]
[http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/%7Ejmbarr/skyscrapers/bedrockJu...](http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/%7Ejmbarr/skyscrapers/bedrockJuly2010.pdf)

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MichaelBurge
The owners shouldn't be filing a lawsuit. They should pay for an engineer to
assess the damages and see if it's possible to fix the building, and depending
on the results file a claim with their insurance company to pay for the work.
The insurance company then has the resources to pursue any lawsuit, against
either the city or the developer.

