César Pelli's Salesforce Tower Suddenly Closes

The discovery of a cracked steel beam led to the immediate closing of Pelli Clarke Pelli’s Salesforce Tower in San Francisco. Workers who were installing ceiling panels at the center’s third-floor bus deck noticed the crack and reported it.

Located adjacent to Pelli Clarke Pelli’s Salesforce Tower, the construction of the $2.2 billion transit center started in April 2013. It opened its doors to the public only earlier this year. The building comprises an undulating wall, held aloft by angled steel columns. It has shops and cafes, at street level, to draw in visitors, and a rooftop park to transform the center from a simple commuter hub to an integrated urban area.

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The Crack of The Salesforce Tower:

The crack is reported to be on a 6.5-foot-deep steel beam. It is one of the many beams that support the park above the bus station. The authorities stated that all the steel beams in the center would be inspected. However, Executive Director of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, Mark Zabaneh believes that the crack on the steel beam is a localized issue and that there is “no information that suggests it is widespread.”
All the buses to and from the transportation hub were rerouted and the neighboring Fermont street was also cordoned off.

“The beam is cracked, so the behavior of the beam is unpredictable. We will be working tonight and tomorrow morning to get a better understanding of the cause of the crack,” said Zabaneh.

The adjacent Millenium Tower’s cracked window was also being inspected on the same day when the crack on the Transit Center’s beam was discovered. The Millenium Tower has sunk 18 inches since it opened in 2009. However, the Transit authorities confirmed that the sinking tower and its cracked window have nothing to do with the cracked beam.

“It’s very disappointing that we have to inconvenience the public but it’s a safety issue and we take it very seriously. We can’t take any chances,” Zabaneh said. “We felt, out of an abundance of caution, that we should close the transit center and we’re attempting to determine the cause of the crack and the measure we need to take to fix it.”