Dive Brief:
- The new San Francisco headquarters for cloud computing company Salesforce is the tallest building in the city, according to Dezeen. Salesforce Tower is 1,070 feet tall.
- The 61-story skyscraper, designed by architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli, still requires tenant build-outs in the 1,400,000-square-foot building before leaseholders can move in.
- Salesforce Tower is attached to a new city transportation hub that was formerly known as the Transbay Transit Center. It has been renamed Salesforce Transit Center, and the 5.4-acre park on top of the hub is now called Salesforce Park.
Dive Insight:
Developers Boston Properties and Hines built the skyscraper, and Salesforce, with a 714,000-square-foot lease, is the anchor tenant.
Salesforce Transit Center has been part of the drama unfolding at the nearby Millennium Tower, which is now infamous for sinking and leaning more than developers projected, as well causing a flurry of legal action. In October 2016, the building had already sunk 16 inches, 11 or 12 more inches than developers projected. Reportedly, a citizen, concerned about how much the building was leaning, kicked off the city's involvement by calling the public 311 information line.
While Millennium Partners was getting pummeled with the first of many lawsuits, the developer blamed the sinking on the de-watering going on at the Salesforce Transit Center. Meanwhile, city transit officials blamed the problem on the building's design, claiming that the 58-story building was sinking because its foundation piles were about 100 feet short of hitting bedrock.
In November 2016, the city filed a lawsuit against the Millennium's developers, alleging that they knew the building was sinking more than projected, and that they failed to notify homeowners before they purchased units there. Homeowners have also filed lawsuits against Millennium Partners.
As of Jan. 21, according to CBS News, the tower had not stopped sinking and was down 17 inches.
An independent inspection by city engineers noted some minor electrical damage, but indicated that it was safe to occupy and could withstand a major earthquake. They also suggested conditions in the building be monitored. Another inspection, however, revealed a potentially life-threatening situation.
Palo Alto, CA, architectural and engineering firm Allana Buick & Bers was hired to provide another assessment of the building, and found that the building's façade is pulling away from the structure, creating a path for a potential fire to spread quickly. Homeowners claim that the information was redacted from the copies of inspection reports they received.
The Department of Buildings Inspection, according to SF Weekly, has issued fire safety violations for the tower, and gave Millennium Partners until Jan. 19 to either fix the problem or provide an independent assessment that the building presents no fire hazard.
