New 'catastrophic' details reveal what went wrong inside flooded luxury SF apartment building

ByLuz Pena KGO logo

Friday, June 10, 2022

New details into what went wrong inside luxury SF apartment

ABC7 News has learned about new "catastrophic" details into what went wrong inside 33 Tehama luxury apartment building in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- ABC7 News is learning new details about what went wrong at the San Francisco luxury apartment building 33 Tehama last Friday.

On Thursday, Paul Paradis, Senior Managing Director of Hines the real estate development and management firm that owns the building explained.

"We do know that a water main that is part of the building fire sprinkler system failed at the top of the building. How it happened and why it happened is also part of our ongoing effort right now," said Paradis.

The building has been shut down since Friday. Over 600 residents are still displaced.

"It's very bad. We had thousands of gallons of water pour down through the building. In doing that, it got into the electrical system, the elevator system, tenant units, and so the entire building had to be totally shut down. So this is catastrophic," said Paradis.

Multiple residents are claiming this is not the first time there have been flooding issues in the building.

Resident, Tyler Patterson said there have been at least two incidents in the last 9 months. He said the first one happened in August of 2021.

"There was a pipe that burst on the 6th floor. I'm on the second floor. There was serious flooding throughout the unit. They ripped off the floors and had to replace a lot of the molding," said Patterson.

Luz Pena: "I'm hearing from residents that there have been floodings in the past. That there have been issues with pipes in the building. Is this correct?"

Paul Paradis: "I'm not aware of any issue like this that has happened in the building," and added, "I'm sure that bathtubs have overflowed. Washing machines have failed. All those types of things but I don't have any similar events to pass on to you that I know of."

San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection confirmed multiple inspectors have been at 33 Tehama this week and said the cause remains under investigation.

The city's report categorized the building as "unsafe" and listed "water damage throughout the building." The inspector reported that 95 units have water damage along with several amenity areas.

"We are putting together a financial plan and we are going to address each and every tenant," said Paradis.

For now, hundreds of residents are still in limbo. Living in hotel rooms without any insight as to when they'll be able to go back to their units.

"We don't know how long it's going to take. We are trying to figure that out. It's really hard not to have those dates but we just don't have them," said Paradis.