Dive Brief:

• San Francisco’s 58-story Millennium Tower, which has drawn attention in recent months for settling beyond project engineers’ estimates, has been deemed safe to live in based on inspections by city officials on Dec. 2, 2016, and Jan. 11, 2017, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

• Officials noted, however, that the building’s settling stressed parts of its electrical system and that there had been water encroachment in the basement’s fifth level affecting electrical wiring there.

• Work to fix these concerns — as well as to provide a solution for the building’s movement — is underway. The building will be inspected again on Feb. 6.

Dive Insight:

The tower’s developer, Millennium Partners, currently faces a lawsuit from a group of owners in the building alleging that it knew of the unprecedented sinking and didn’t tell buyers. The developer announced in September that the settling was due to water drainage from construction activity on an adjacent site. Transit officials, however, have said that the sinking is due to foundation piles failing to reach bedrock.

So far, the tower has settled 16 inches and could nearly double that in all. Additionally, it leans 2 inches from its base, raising concerns over the initial projections of a 4- to 6-inch lean over its full lifespan.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee asked city officials to tighten up building codes, add an independent review process and adjust the city’s 30-year earthquake safety plans for greater scrutiny on high rises.

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