San Francisco, CA
A posh S.F. housing tower gets flooded by a burst rooftop pipe. Residents don’t know when they can return
A number of hundred residents of a San Francisco luxurious condominium tower spent the weekend in two downtown motels — and it wasn’t a bunch staycation.
As a substitute, the tenants of 33 Tehama St. had been evacuated Friday when a water pipe broke atop the modern 35-story highrise within the Transbay district that payments itself on its web site as a haven of “actually cosmopolitan dwelling.” They don’t count on to return earlier than Friday, and are exiled till then to lodge rooms close to Union Sq. that had been leased hurriedly by 33 Tehama’s proprietor.
“The elevators are damaged past restore and the hearth marshal received’t let anybody return,’’ stated Austin Caldwell, 28, who pays $3,330 together with his associate for a one-bedroom on the second flooring.
In response to the San Francisco Fireplace Division incident report, a six-inch pipe burst in an condominium on the thirty sixth flooring of the constructing Friday afternoon. Residents stated it occurred on the roof, since there isn’t any thirty sixth flooring on the tower, which opened in 2018.
In both case, the water spilled down a number of flooring, soaking hallways and creating {an electrical} hazard. All the constructing was evacuated with residents solely given quick discover earlier than the tower was locked down. Residents, a few of whom needed to get particular escorts to retrieve their pets, had been all despatched to both the Hilton Union Sq. or the Parc 55 Lodge.
As of Sunday afternoon, residents stated they had been suggested by administration of 33 Tehama that their lodge reservations had been prolonged till Friday.
San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents the neighborhood, tweeted Sunday that everybody had gotten out safely to passable lodging. After listening to a litany of complaints from tenants, he stated he can be requesting a gathering with constructing administration Monday morning.
“I don’t have my arms round it,” he informed The Chronicle.
In a press release launched Sunday night, 33 Tehama’s property administration agency provided no agency timetable for when tenants of the tower’s 383 leased models will be capable of transfer again to their constructing,
“Presently, a staff is working diligently to repair the issue and restore security programs and utilities,” stated the assertion from Willowick Residential. “We will likely be conducting an intensive investigation to find out the reason for the water leak on the property.”
Carrie Stern, 38, who lives in an condominium on the seventeenth flooring, was residence at 2 pm. Friday when she received alerted by a residential group chat that there was water flooding elevators and the stairwell.
“I used to be sitting at my desk doing work,” stated Stern, who’s in analysis at a tech firm. “Then I began listening to speeding water and I went to my entrance door and water was coming in beneath the door. By then the water was already within the entrance closet.”
Round 3:30 pm., two hearth engines arrived on the scene after a staff comprised of constructing engineers, representatives of the water firm and PG&E had been unable to manage the stream. At 4 pm., Stern she heard an announcement over a loud speaker that was muffled. So she went out on her balcony the place she may hear the evacuation order.
She gathered up her laptop computer and one night time’s requirements and took the steps right down to the bottom flooring. By then, a number of dozen individuals had been gathered within the courtyard. Not lengthy after that, an worker informed everybody they might be going to motels, not again to their flats.
The hearth division turned the incident again over to constructing administration at 5:25 pm., having stanched the stream of water.
Residents are being allowed in for brief visits to their flats. Stern, as an illustration, was in a position to cease by lengthy sufficient on Sunday to run a load of soaked towels.
Stern who has lived at 33 Tehama since 2019, stated she had by no means earlier than had a problem in her condominium. Requested if she is going to renew when her lease expires, Stern was noncommittal: “it depends upon how they take care of the repairs.”
Others say they have already got made up their minds.
One is Caldwell, a company recruiter who stated that is the second time he has been evacuated on account of flooding within the two years he has lived there. He and his associate, Tyler Patterson, and their canine and cat will likely be searching for a brand new place when their lease expires in August.
“We’re all extremely pissed off at how the constructing administration and constructing house owners have dealt with this,” Caldwell stated
Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle employees author. E-mail: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SamWhitingSF