Evidence does not support Millennium Partners’ claim that the TJPA’s dewatering is the cause of the excessive vertical settlement and tilting of the Millennium Tower

There is no evidence to support Millennium Partners’ claim that the TJPA’s dewatering is the cause of the excessive vertical settlement and tilting of the Millennium Tower.  Millennium Partners’ geotechnical engineers predicted that the Millennium Tower would settle vertically a maximum of 5.5 inches 20 years after completion.  In April 2011, when the TJPA removed the timber piles supporting the old Transbay Terminal—the first TJPA construction activity below grade adjacent to the Millennium Tower—the Tower had already settled vertically 10 inches and was tilting toward the west/northwest, away from the Transit Center.  By the time the TJPA started dewatering adjacent to the Millennium Tower in May of 2013, the Tower had settled approximately 12.1 inches and was tilting further to the west/northwest.