Settlement tentatively reached in lawsuit involving SF Millennium Tower homeowners

Wednesday, August 28, 2019
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- New Developments involving the Millennium Tower, the luxury San Francisco skyscraper that's leaning and sinking.

Now, a settlement has been reached in lawsuits involving hundreds of homeowners. It's the luxury condo high rise with killer views-- but that's not what made the Millennium Tower famous.
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TIMELINE: Issues with SF's tilting, sinking, cracking Millennium Tower

The tower was sinking and slightly tilting. One homeowner rolled a golf ball across his floor in 2016 to prove it. And hundreds sued.

A Lawyer for a group of homeowners says a tentative agreement has been reached to stabilize the building and compensate residents for the tower's defect.

The deal includes $100-million to drill 52 new perimeter piles to stabilize the foundation-- they will be drilled 250 feet into bedrock. Three times deeper than the piles currently used on the building.



The Transbay Joint Powers Authority and the developer agree to compensate the owners for the loss in value to their homes.
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"The claim we made in the lawsuit is the difference between what the Millennium units are worth today and what they should be worth, and you measure by looking at all the similar buildings in the area which the Millennium hasn't had," said Attorney Niall McCarthy.

In a statement, the developer, Mission Street Development, said the deal "will release all claims related to the condition of the millennium tower including the homeowner's claims related to impacts on the building from the construction of the Transbay Transit Center and Salesforce Tower."

Homeowners had claimed construction on the transit center caused their building to shift.

Realtor Kevin Ho says news of the repairs on the tower could mean good news for buyers and sellers in the future.
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"Once it gets fixed to where it should be, the market will find equilibrium, that new equilibrium just like the building will go up and will be a good thing," said Ho.

A judge overseeing an upcoming trial must approve the deal in 90 days.

The compensation amount for homeowners was not disclosed.

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