The president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors said Wednesday that he wants comprehensive window inspections of all downtown high-rises after multiple windows broke at the Salesforce East building and the Millennium Tower during Tuesday's windstorm.
The latest failures followed earlier breaks at two separate California Street high-rises during recent high wind events.
“We just cannot have it raining glass in San Francisco’s downtown,” said Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin. “The miracle is that in these four window failures, nobody has been hurt.”
The 300 block of Mission Street remained closed Wednesday, and glass-fragments could be seen on cordoned off sections of sidewalk.
City records show that several windows cracked or broke on various floors of the Salesforce East building at 350 Mission Street. An official with Kilroy Realty, the building's developer, did not respond to requests for comment.
Public documents show that the city Department of Building Inspection issued a notice of violation against the building late Tuesday, ordering that its façade be inspected within 14 days.
“An emergency response inspection has revealed broken or cracked windows (1 on each floor) between Levels 11 through 30, on Mission St elevation, presenting a hazard to pedestrians,” the notice said.
“It came down pretty hard, I thought it was just like hail and I realized afterwards that it was glass after it didn’t melt when it hit the ground,” said Edwin Young, who tells us he was walking by the Salesforce East during Tuesday’s storm.
Supervisor Peskin also says he's calling for a hearing next month to explore ways to improve high-rise window safety. He says while some high-rise windows are regularly inspected, others are not - depending on the age of the structure. He wants the same comprehensive rules for all high-rise buildings downtown.
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On Wednesday, Millennium Tower spokesman Doug Elmets confirmed that one dual paned window did break during Tuesday's storm, but says most of the glass pieces ended up inside the unit. He conceded some may have fallen, but said the area of impact was covered by scaffolding.
That scaffolding was erected as part of the ongoing effort to fix the leaning and sinking building. “To the best of our knowledge no glass fell onto the ground,” Elmets said in a statement.
Elmets also acknowledged “the window in the condominium was not closed.” -- Despite warnings to residents, from building management, to keep windows closed.
That warning was triggered by an earlier failure of an open window in high winds back in 2020. Elmets said the building has ordered replace window arms from China in response to concerns from the Department of Building Inspection about the strength of the current arms. Those concerns were raised after the earlier window failure in 2020.
Fifty arms have been replaced to date, Millennium officials say, but nearly 3,600 have yet to arrive from China to be installed.
