Hines highrise in Downtown SF floods, hundreds of residents evacuated

A Downtown San Francisco highrise flooded on its top floor, forcing hundreds of apartment tenants to evacuate for rooms at Bay Area hotels.

The 36-story luxury tower at 33 Tehama in South of Market burst a pipe on its upper floor, sending a cascade of water that forced the evacuation of at least 400 residents, the San Francisco Times reported.

The resulting flood – which followed a similar flood in August that displaced tenants for weeks – caused residents to flee the building.

Houston-based Hines, the co-developer and landlord of the recently built 403-unit tower, offered residents $300 stipends for lodging in lieu of hotel rooms it has booked.

But many residents were forced to scramble for rooms at hotels doing brisk business on conferences, according to the Business Times.

The apartment building has been red-tagged and is not safe for occupation. Hines wasn’t able to give a time frame for its reopening, or pinpoint the cause of the problem.

Hines, a global real estate powerhouse, and Atlanta-based Investco, developed 33 Tehama in 2018. The green glass tower, scored with balconies on either side, was designed by Miami-based Arquitectonica, with Lendlease Group serving as general contractor.

In a statement to the Business Times, a Hines spokesperson said it “immediately worked to ensure that our tenants had accommodations by that evening,” and that Hines has “relocated everyone who needed to be moved and everyone who wanted a hotel room has one.”

The spokesperson also said that Hines is continuing to extend reservations as needed, and is providing a per diem of $300 per day for alternative lodging beyond its hotel bookings, or what tenant’s required renter’s insurance provides.

The company says it’s also providing additional funds for food, access to co-working space and Uber vouchers.

The building has been beset with problems from the beginning. In February 2017, a construction failure at the partially built skyscraper forced the evacuation of a dozen nearby buildings when a 2,000-pound slab attached to a failed crane threatened to fall hundreds of feet, according to fire officials.

But Hines denied that the crane had malfunctioned and said a hydraulic lift between floors 35 and 36 had failed.

[San Francisco Business Times] – Dana Bartholomew

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