Glass pane falls from top of San Francisco skyscraper onto street
A pane of glass being installed on the top level of a 30-story skyscraper in San Francisco's South of Market plummeted to the street Friday morning, damaging windows on another building across the street, authorities said.
A spokesperson for the city's Department of Building Inspection said the full pane of glass came from the roof of the Salesforce East building at 350 Mission Street. The high rise is adjacent to the 61-story Salesforce Tower, the tallest building in the city, and across the street from the Millennium Tower, the city's tallest residential building at 58 stories.
No one was reported injured.
Portions of the glass pane that shattered flew across the street, cracking two ground-floor windows of the Millennium Tower, said department spokesperson Patrick Hannan. A building inspector was dispatched to 350 Mission Street to evaluate the situation issued a violation notice which required the opening where the glass was to be secured and the glass to be replaced as soon as possible, said Hannan.
The area around Mission and Fremont Streets was closed briefly as crews cleaned up the shattered glass.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported a driver on Mission Street saw people running from what he thought was a robbery in progress until he heard what sounded like rain hitting his vehicle. He told the Chronicle his rear window was shattered and the roadway was littered with glass.
Both Salesforce East and Millennium Tower were among San Francisco high-rises that had glass shattered on upper floors during severe winds in March 2023. The winds also blew out several glass panes from the 52-story former Bank of America building at 555 California Street in the city's Financial District. The Fire Department issued a shelter-in-place order for the entire block at the time, but no one was hurt.
After five different skyscrapers had windows shattered during the severe windstorms, the city ordered the inspection of façades for buildings 15 stories or taller and built after 1998.