Labor Day

Drone Surveying Cracked Window at Millennium Tower Crashes Into Salesforce Building

Any data from the drone that crashed in Saturday’s attempt to survey a cracked window at the Millennium Tower may have been lost for good, an attorney for the Millennium Tower Homeowners Association acknowledged Monday.

The remote controlled device was only in front of the cracked 36th window for a few minutes Saturday, before it lost its GPS navigation and hit the Salesforce East building across the street.

“When the expert attempted to upload the data, he couldn’t upload it and now it’s been sent to an IT specialist to try to salvage,” said Rachel Miller, an attorney for Millennium Tower Homeowners Association. “They are not optimistic.”

Miller says that if the data is indeed lost, officials will have to wait until a platform used for maintenance is repaired and certified as operational. The experts could also rely on high resolution photos taken from a nearby building.

Miller also says a plan to repel down the building wall to seal the window with tape has been put on hold because the contractor is not available.

“The structural silicone sealant is holding the glass in place,” she said. “Taping the window is still a recommendation, but right now they can’t get down there.”

While the actual window has been discontinued, Miller acknowledged, replacement glass has been ordered through a local glass replacement contractor. That could take several weeks, she said. Barriers will remain on the sidewalk level as a precaution.

Meanwhile, Miller said, the developer’s attorney has expressed a willingness to conduct a joint investigation into what led the window to fail on the Saturday before Labor Day weekend, as first reported by NBC Bay Area. A preliminary report by consultant Allana, Buick and Bers found that the tower’s tilting may be to blame for the window’s failure, but said any final conclusion would have to wait on better exterior evaluation of the damage.

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