Problems Emerge
No one is quite sure why the building began to sink and tilt. It could be a flaw in the structure, which would make it Millennium Partners' responsibility, according to the building residents, or the result of the nearby construction of a major transit station, which would make it at least partially the responsibility of the station's builder. Possibly, it could be some combination of the two.

A class-action by 20 building residents, led by their fellow resident, patent litigator Jerry Dodson, alleges that Millennium Partners knew the building had sunk 8.3 inches into the ground by 2009, the year after it was completed.

“There’s the possibility that when they poured [the concrete base] in 2006-07, that it immediately sank,” Dodson said in an interview in his living room in the tower, which is filled with art-deco vases and sculptures and overlooks San Francisco Bay. “It’s extremely unlikely in my mind that as we began 2009 that it immediately tilted 6 inches to the northwest. What’s more likely is they poured the [slab] on unstable soil.”

Millennium Partners denies responsibility for the tilting. “At the time of its completion in 2008 and throughout its entire sales process, [Millennium Tower] had settled within predicted, safe ranges,” said Johnston, the developer's spokesman.

Dodson's 20 homeowners, who collectively paid some $75 million for their condos, claim that the developer hid the building's faulty structure from prospective buyers and that the city's administrators joined in the alleged fraud by helping conceal the tower's engineering flaws as early as February 2009 by signing mutual nondisclosure agreements. The two colluded over half a decade to keep Millennium Tower’s design defects secret to allow the city to move forward on its own construction in the neighborhood, according to Dodson's complaint. The city and Millennium Tower deny these allegations

Another target of Dodson's suit is the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA), which is building what it calls a “Grand Central Station of the West” next door to Millennium Tower. Part of the development, which also includes towers and below-ground rail tunnels in the soft soil, could have undermined Millennium Tower's foundation, causing the building to tilt, according to Dodson's complaint. If TJPA is found to be at fault, San Francisco taxpayers could be obliged to fund the tower’s repair. The developer blames TJPA for the tilt. The TJPA has denied the allegations.

The TJPA attempted to dismiss one lawsuit Millennium Tower residents filed by claiming that the tower was still structurally secure. In a move critics attributed to the city's desire to absolve itself of any blame surrounding the project, the San Francisco Attorney's office subsequently sued Millennium Partners on behalf of TJPA.

Regardless of who is legally responsible, all parties have finally agreed that there is, in fact, a problem.

A report commissioned by Millennium Partners and published in 2014 by the engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger determined that the building's support columns and foundation were experiencing “significant stress.” Nevertheless, the report concluded: “With the exception of the foundation,” it read, “none of the settlement-related demands on these elements are at levels that indicate impending failure.” The building's supports might be cracking, in other words, but—as of a few years ago, at least—it was unlikely to collapse.

Potential Solutions
Recently, Millennium Partners entered private mediation with building residents, with the goal of halting environmental damage and to “stop any undue further settlement of the building,” according to the developer's spokesman. As far as Millennium Partners is concerned, the culprit is the TJPA project next door. “We need to ensure that the damage being caused by our immediate neighbors, TJPA, is stopped,” he added.