This building needs to be condemned and dismantled before people are killed.

As a glass technician, I’ll say the two big words you’re missing here is annealed and tempered which refers to two different types of glass. Annealed, when broken breaks off into shards that will cut you like a razor. Tempered, when broken, breaks into a million pieces. Often referred to as safety glass it will still cut you but far less dangerous than annealed glass

I lived in SF during the major earthquake of 1989. It’s difficult to describe how terrifying it is when there is no solid ground and nowhere to run and hide because absolutely everything in your immediate world is shaking violently. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that place in an earthquake.

The original developer didn't want the expense of driving piles to bedrock leading to the leaning problem. It makes me wonder if the window problem is due to stresses caused by the leaning, or if it is the result of other cost-cutting by the developer. You couldn't pay me to live in that building. Cost-cutting developers are hazardous to health and safety.

So this will go on for a while until the building falls over, and then the city supervisor can tell us his thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.

Feels like watching a building destruction in very slow motion.

They keep patching problem on top of problem. This building needs to be torn down. Better to lose money than lives.

That's gonna be a colossal collapse.

This is an embarrassment for this to be allowed in this country. The engineers and builders that had a hand in this from the start to the half-assed fixes need to be held accountable for tear down and relocation of all tenants.

As an ex-employee of a sealed unit, double glazing manufacturer, I am staggered that tempered glass panes, both inner & outer, are not a mandatory requirement throughout a high rise development.

One question to me is - is the tilt of the building putting strain on the windows ?

The Tower is a spot on metaphor for San Francisco.

1 year and 45 days to build the Empire State Building in 1931. 4 years to build the Millennium Tower and they still couldn't get it right.

The whole building is going to collapse before they can dismantle it. It’s going to be a new sad day in history.

When I was a kid growing up in SF we were told that ledges or balconies would be put outside of newly built skyscrapers to catch falling glass in earthquakes. I guess the planning department has forgotten that fifty years later...

The whole building should be condemned

I can't believe that they even allowed that type of window that opens at the bottom in addition to the lack of safety glass

Since the original blueprints and design for the tower was to be constructed from steel, why didn't the city shut the job down when someone decided to go with concrete and enforcing rods? The foundation was not set down into bedrock and would not be able to support the added weight.

They are reinforcing window frames while the building might collapse??? Insanity...the city officials are not worried one bit except for their salary!

What a debacle! I wouldn't spend a single night in that building--the only thought that would be racing through my head is the Surfside collapse.

This is a perfect example of the incompetency and bribery that exists is so many building departments. This problem should never have existed. The situation could have easily been avoided by experienced and competent engineers and inspectors. The absolute lack of integrity and knowledge in these city and county building departments is staggering. Any competent contractor could have seen this issue before beginning any construction.

They need to vacate the tower, and deconstruct that monstrosity.

Screw the windows, let’s get that “less likely to lean anymore” to something like, “this building DOES NOT lean”.

I would be more concerned about the window falling to road level while still securely attached to the building.

It will be interesting to see how it handles the next ground shaker...

This building will be eventually torn down, too many problems what will never be solved. They are only kidding themselves and no one is going to take responsibility

Seems more like the structure is stressed. Being tilted already and adding in high winds has to load up the structure significantly.

Take a crew up to the top of the building and start dismantling the building floor by floor. It is a disaster and has been a disaster from the get go.

Netflix needs to create a series from this. Every year there is some new news. They can just wait and run a season every year.

Thanks again Jackson, and SFNBC4. Can't take my eyes off this story. Keep everyone posted!

When that thing collapses they are going to have a massive lawsuit on their hands

The building is tilting over and now the windows are falling out. There's an accounting concept of sunken costs. There's no way to retrieve what's already lost, but ya just don't wanna quit yet, so put another 100gs in or a mil if you'd like. That building may eventually need to simply be demolished.

Glaze the windows closed like on other hi rises. The hinged frames cause too many problems.

A lot of people are saying just demolish it, which is probably the right answer, but someone has to take the financial responsibility for it, and so far there are no takers.

There is no way I would be living in that building or near it.

Let’s not forget the Salesforce building across from it had shattered windows around the same time as well.

2 sides of the building were put to bedrock... BUT the other two sides they hope will sink to level out the building.

the torque and stress from the building sinking is causing the base problem. Like a house sinking over years, the doors no longer close, the sewer pipes get out of whack .... The Tower is this but on a power to the 1,000 times worse

I found out yesterday, NYC has a tower under construction, it's leaning 3 inches and they're looking at demolition.

Imagine living or working in the building next to this one. The prices of buildings around that area must have gone free fall into the abyss.

what it appears is that the window was left open in the wind storm and it was pushed closed by the wind and slammed hard against border and shattered

I am surprised there isn't more glazing failures given the movement of the building. Also, the window glazing seemed to meet all the conditions where safety glazing would required, except that the bottom edge is more than 18-inches above the finished floor. But, one could argue the window seat is a walking surface for kids and drunk adults.

I’m glad it took ‘experts’ to tell us that giant windows, falling from hundreds of feet, are dangerous.

This brings back memories of Boston's John Hancock building in 1974 where the windows kept breaking and falling out.

Don't worry, that problem is just an "isolated incident" like all crime in SF. Even when the tower falls, it'll be an "isolated incident".

Imagine what would happen if even a mid level earthquake hit the area.

Just my humble opinon, people in SF have waaaaaay bigger worries than falling glass.

i can't even afford a condo in a building that is about to fall down

I wouldn’t be able to rest peacefully living in the leaning tower of San Francisco

Somehow the taxpayers will pay for this

"in theory it shouldn't sink or lean any further." Correct. Now, it is flexing.

its falling down, when, not if.

I'm from down South where many houses are up on piers, and if a single pier fails the building racks and doors don't close or windows do not open. How can a building settle as much as this tower did and not wrack the structure making it unsafe?

the saga continues...

There has also been some concern about windows in tall towers in Toronto, Ont. There have been a few examples of windows breaking and falling to street level.

Guys you're missing the point. This tower is embarrassing and the glass could kill someone but think how diverse the people involved in the design and construction must have been.

Makes me wonder why my San Francisco house built in 1921 still has all the original same glass and window frames The millennium tower was just built a few years ago. What is their excuse .

Take it down before an earthquake hits and the whole thing crashes down.

Imagine paying 2 million for an apartment that doesnt have safety glass or a flat floor, or make you feel safe.

I fear nothing about the Millennium Tower. Of course, I'm nearly 2,000 miles away from it.

I work on a super-tall office building construction site, and it's awful. These huge buildings are not only a danger to the public, but to the workers building them.

Ostensibly, the years of permitting, environmental reviews, and litigation that it takes to build anything in CA--especially in its big cities, are out of concern for safety and the environment. This cluster fornication shows the lengthy and onerous permitting process in CA is not b/c of due diligence concerns; rather, it's a process by which special interests hold projects up until they get something out of it for themselves.

Thank you sharing this continued story.

The work done in recent years did not make the tower any safer, unfortunately -- and definitely not in an earthquake-prone region like San Francisco. Just the fact that it developed a 29" lean at all blows my mind and them trying to save six million dollars by not driving piles all the way down to bedrock when originally constructing the building on weak mud clearly came back and bit them HARD in the ass, ultimately costing far more than six million for the half-ass repairs done to correct the issue. There are some excellent engineering channels on UKposts that go into great detail that are actually pretty scary. Honestly, the cracks in the basement and on the thick slab underneath the building are enough to make anyone want to steer clear of Millennium Tower so I can't even imagine being willing to enter it, let alone live in it. You'll also find more photos posted by residents showing cracks in multiple windows and walls caused by tension that may not be AS big of an omen as the cracked cement and the lean itself, but it's still enough to tell you what the stress caused to the building is doing to it. I know condemning it and taking it down may not seem like an option, but the deaths of it's residents and people in other buildings near by once the tower eventually fails to hold up vertically shouldn't be an option either.

“The scandal of the Millennium Tower turned decidedly more political this week when Aaron Peskin, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, told reporters that he had unearthed official documents showing that the city’s building inspection department had raised concerns about sinking seven years ago, just before the building was to open its doors. A letter sent by the city to the engineering firm spoke of “larger than usual” settlement of the structure and asked whether the consequences had been studied. Yet six months later, in August 2009, the city declared the building safe for occupancy. On Tuesday, Peskin questioned why the city had allowed people to move in. “I believe, and I know this is a very serious allegation,” Peskin said, “that there was some level of political interference.” The response to the city’s query by the engineering firm, DeSimone Consulting Engineers, is missing from the official record, Peskin said. He has called hearings for next Thursday, and city officials will be subpoenaed. The hearings are likely to capture the attention of the California political class because the mayor at the time the building was approved, Gavin Newsom, is now lieutenant governor and has aspirations to be governor.“ - Seattle Times, 2016.

Building is probably starting to flex, putting types of stress on the windows which they were not designed for.

This building need to be dismantled.

As the Tower structure morphs under the stress of its’ unsymmetrical weight, are the window openings still rectangular or are they now trapezoidal putting stress on the panes and making them crack?

This tower is a perfect representative of SF. Failing catastrophically and its leaders deny the problem.

Thats pressure from the building leaning to one side..this is going to get worse. I read somewhere that George Santos designed this tower😂

Aaaaand storms are becoming increasingly stronger. What could possibly go wrong?!

It's not a matter of if the tower will fall, but when. You'll never catch me anywhere near that deathtrap. Of course, no one will be held responsible, in any meaningful way, either.

No way I would even go into that tower of doom

Surprised the Supervisor of that district (Peskin) continues to let this happen

Well, during a wind storm like that you dont want to be walking around on the streets ANYWAY! masonry, bricks, haphazardly attached window air conditioners, potted plants, old windows, sheet metal cornices and more can and do all come flying off buildings.

this is the same building a few months ago where they were interviewing this "expert" where he said "glass windows fall off all the time. It happens in Chicago, New York." As a Chicagoan, WTF is that guy talking about? We just had a Tornado and high winds for a whole 2 weeks non stop. No windows were falling off any buildings back here. Contractors prioritizing profits is a dangerous contractor. BEST OF LUCK, San Fran!!!

It's just a matter of time before something very, very serious happens there.

I blame the broken windows on residents who flushed stuff down the toilet. Signed … management. But seriously, why did that window 2 floors below break? It was the inner window,not the outer window bearing the wind force. And even if it did rattle around in the wind, how would that break the window in that pattern? Was the window frame somehow already putting stress on the pane?

I was a high-rise building operator for 24 years ending 2012. The dirty little secret behind such glass issues often relates to the relative air pressure inside the structure vs. outside the structure. Even where the architects and engineers have correctly designed mechanical systems to compensate for operational variations in force-balance air pressure stresses upon the curtain wall (including windows) mistakes in actual construction and/or such as fan control errors can result in glass failure. Any time. Just consider that the taller the building, the greater is this "stack effect" in play. Correct procedures in building commissioning, prior the outset of occupancy, remain critical. IS THIS BEING DONE?

when windows explode like this, IE glass is inside and outside, the only thing that can cause this in curtain wall glass units is pressure from either side top or bottom, this means the area around the glass unit has to move, it is that simple, forget annealed tempered or anything else, glass breaks in this way with pressure on its outer edges, I fitted glass units back in the 1980s and the basic design hasn't changed much since then, building have to distort, usually with underground subsidence or structural failure, its nearly always subsidence here in the Uk, mainly due to underground workings of some sort, coal mining, tube trains in London and sometimes underground lakes,

Let's wait for the big one to take it down. LOL 😂

He's brave to go in there. They probably wish it would just fall over.

Everyone living in or near the building, please post names of your next of kin so they can be notified.

On a very comforting note, it has been calculated that, in an earthquake of sufficient magnitude to knock out the windows, but not strong enough to destroy the buildings, Downtown Seattle will be buried in 6 feet of glass shards.

Time to remove this big problem!!!🤨

as a veteran youtube consumer, this y2k tower is a metaphor for the character of sf. but it started during design review. city should’ve required third party review by developer and city should’ve commissioned its own. developer was already spending stupid money but somehow skimping on the foundation really saved enough money to make sense? the bldg has experienced differential settlement which could plausibly encourage window failure as the load-paths through the structure may change; some of which could create weird stresses in some windows. but maybe the developer opted for builder grade windows to save$

A broken window makes national news? Gotta say, I didn't see that one coming

could the shifting of the building have cause a shifting in the window frames and cracked or fractured the glass because of compression forces?

This tower situation gets more interesting as each month goes by. Seems to be heading to a point where the once unthinkable abandonment might become reality. How many people want to live in this building? Not me. How many people will buy a resale under current circumstances? Probably close to zero. The comes a time to cut losses and move on. And additionally, downtown San Francisco was a much more desirable place to live when this tower was in the planning stage.

Aaron Peskin's gargantuan ego is literally bending reality.

RIP to the pedestrians that will get hit by falling glass

Throw the whole building away. I hope all the developers are in jail.

II am no expert on this, but how stable is this tower when the next tremors come? It seems like it's been jury rigged or duct taped to address it's leaning.

Who is the developer of this building? All the major players of building this building need to be named and published!

What was there before this tower? Did they have any problems with their building?

Either the supervisor is 4 feet tall or the reporter is a giant.

This tower is a trenchant metaphor not only for San Francisco but also the US financial system.

Yes is correct. That is float or annealed glass; not tempered (shatters into pebbles) or laminated (stays attached to a film). Basically falling daggers.

The building is twisting, causing the windows to fail…pipes and wiring is threatening with fire dangers

I pray the people that are living in that building are getting their souls in order.