Residents of the Millennium Tower, known as San Francisco's Leaning Tower, will have to pay $6.8 million in damages after renovations that should have fixed the troubled luxury building's 29-inch lean went awry, causing a disastrous sewage spill.
Repairs to correct the tower's infamous 29-inch lean were completed at a cost of $10 per square foot of apartment space, totaling $6.8 million to tenants. The project ended up costing $20 million more than the expected $100 million, NBC Bay Area reported.
The 545-foot-tall tower has continued to lean and sink to the west even after architects tried to repair its foundations last fall. The problem has not been fixed, but residents have been given until October to pay for the so-called repairs.
“I don't know what to do with my house. It's costing me money and it's uninhabitable,” said Mehrdad Mostafavi, who moved in June after sewage started coming out of his kitchen sink.
Residents of the Millennium Tower received huge bills following so-called repairs to straighten its tilt. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Millennium repair technicians had warned that the tilt of the tower could cause sewage backups, so Mostafavi scrambled to clean up the backflow, only to be hit with a bill for nearly $14,000 from the tower owners' association.
“It's a building that is known for being luxurious, but unfortunately for me as the owner, that is not the case,” Mostafavi told the outlet. “I am really suffering.”
Mehrdad Mostafavi moved out of his building in June after dirty water started coming out of his sink. NBC Bay Area
Mostafavi said the bill arrived after he had already taken money out of his retirement account to pay for repairs to his broken kitchen.
“I'm really struggling with how to get out of this apartment to retire and live a retired life,” he said. “It costs so much money. They keep asking for more money. This is unacceptable to me.”
Mostafavi said he had to dip into his retirement savings to repair damage caused to his home by the construction. NBC Bay Area residents are charged $10 per square foot, and Mostafavi paid about $14,000 for the condo. NBC Bay Area
After homeowners were compensated for lost property values, the tower association was given $150 million to cover costs, but the association said it still wasn't enough, given the troubled project's numerous setbacks.
“Delays and the city's stringent requirements have resulted in significant, unexpected increases in project costs,” the association said in a letter to residents.
The bill provided a rough calculation of the $6.8 million residents owed and sought to assure homeowners that they would not be the only ones forced to pay, with the tower's developers and repairers owed $10 million to cover the overage.
Recent monitoring data shows the building's lean has only improved slightly since work finished in June.
The 29-inch tilt was first unveiled to the luxury building's residents in 2016.