Joe Montana Sues High-Rise Developer Over San Francisco's Sinking Millennium Tower
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Former San Francisco 49er Joe Montana has filed a lawsuit against the developers of a luxury high-rise condominium tower that is sinking at an unexpected rate.
Tenants at Millennium Tower are concerned for their property value and their safety. That's why so many of them have already filed lawsuits. Joe Montana shares those concerns, plus one more thing he hopes to protect -- his reputation.
After being one of the first people to positively promote Millennium Tower, Joe Montana now joins a long list of tenants suing for their negative experience. Montana's lawsuit alleges the tower has sunk a total of 16 inches since 2008, that developers knew about it and failed to tell prospective owners like himself.
The high-rise that opened its doors in 2009 is tilting several inches to the northwest.
Montana's is the latest in a string of lawsuits against the tower that became a haven for the well-heeled. Tenants have included the late venture capitalist Tom Perkins and Giants outfielder Hunter Pence.
The building has a sprawling indoor lap-pool, a health club and spa, an in-house cinema, and a restaurant and wine bar run by celebrity chef Michael Mina. Penthouses have sold for more than $13 million.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin said, "We all know the Millennium Tower is sinking and tilting. The Millennium Partners have yet to address this in any meaningful way."
Peskin has been leading the charge against Millennium Partners in a series of hearings trying to figure out what went wrong and if it's fixable.
"I've now held six hearings at City Hall. It's been extremely frustrating getting information from our own Building Department, from Millennium Partners, from their engineers," Peskin said.
Kpix 5 legal and political reporter Melissa Caen says what makes this lawsuit different than the other tenants is that Joe Montana helped promote the tower in 2010 in exchange for residency, which means he could be on the hook for lawsuits himself.
"So it's a good thing that he has a lawsuit out there saying look I wasn't a part of this scam I didn't know this either, it's clear I was duped just like everybody else," Caen said.
The Montana's originally purchased unit 41C inside Millennium Tower for $2.7 million. This new lawsuit calls that unit uninhabitable, unmarketable, and valueless.
Tenants like Jim and Sandra Robbins just want to hear clear answers, and hope they'll be allowed to keep living here.
"I know people are very, very concerned," Sandra Robbins said. "We're sorry for all the suits. We still enjoy living here, it's a wonderful place, we have hope that they'll fix everything that is necessary."
The building developers declined to provide a comment regarding Joe Montana's lawsuit.
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