SF sues Millennium Tower developer, says tilting and sinking were known since 2009

The beleaguered, troubled, yet still very much luxe Millennium Tower took another hit today. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed suit today against Mission Street Development LLC, the Yerba Buena tower’s developer. He alleges that the company knew of the structures troubles as far back as 2009, but failed to notify tenants.

“My office has a duty to protect all the taxpayers of San Francisco,” City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a written statement. “We are not going to sit by and allow a developer—or anyone else—to enrich themselves at the expensive of others by hiding crucial information that they’re required by law to disclose. That gave the developer an unfair advantage against competitors, and it cheated homebuyers out of information they needed to make an informed decision.”

Herrera goes in for the kill, saying:

“Before they had sold a single condo, Mission Street Development LLC knew their building had sunk more than it was supposed to in its lifetime, and that it was still sinking ... Yet they didn’t tell the home buyers as they’re required to do so under the law. It’s that simple.”

This all comes on the heels of an investigation by the City Attorney’s Office that revealed the LLC knew of the alacrity at which the Millennium was settling and tilting. Homebuyers are required by law to be made aware of such troubles, but residents did not find out about the alarming sinkage until May of 2016 in a closed-door meeting inside the tower’s club level.

Millennium Partners have (curiously) maintained innocence, saying that the neighboring Transbay construction is to blame.

To see how the structure’s tilt has affected the building, check out this video of a rolling marble shot by a Millennium resident.

• SF sues Millennium Tower developer, says tilting and sinking were known since 2009 [Curbed SF]
• Millennium Tower resident’s video of rolling marble claims to show building’s tilt [Curbed SF]
• Millennium says sinking water table to blame [Curbed SF]
• Transbay Authority says: Don't blame us for sinking Millennium Tower [Curbed SF]