Hunters Point And The Bayview Community
An Environmental Disaster
Lennar is the primary developer of the troubled Hunters Point development in San Francisco. The site was a former naval base and has been described as “one of the most toxic and polluted parcels of land in North America”. It was known to Lennar from the acquisition and going forward that the site contained toxic and radioactive soils, including plutonium, cesium, asbestos, and numerous other toxic elements. Nonetheless, Lennar proceeded with development of the site.
Lennar and the company’s consultants maintained that soils underlying Hunters Point had been cleaned up and were suitable for development. This was false. In fact, there was a cover-up of the true soils conditions, and substantially all of the soils tests on the site were falsified. Lennar built a series of condominium homes known as the Shipyard Project directly on this toxic site.
In 2018, Lennar was sued by homebuyers in the Shipyard project alleging that Lennar sold homes to unsuspecting buyers knowing that the underlying soils were highly toxic – including radioactive elements. According to the complaint, the case “represents one of the biggest cover-ups of serious industrial and radioactive waste” in the nation. In the complaint, homebuyers said “we were duped“. Lennar eventually settled – but only after exhausting all available legal means to avoid liability for these fraudulent home sales.
A series of bombshell headlines revealed the true extent of the problem and Lennars’ complicity in the cover-up:
“Emails Show Regulators Conspiring With Lennar To Cover Up Shipyard Development Danger“
“Faked Clean-up At Hunters Point Shipyard Much Worse Than Navy Estimates“
“Hunters Point Shipyard Soil Scandal Widens As Analysis Spots Suspect Parcels“
“The Shipyard, San Francisco’s Largest Development, Faces Years Of Delays After Alleged Fake Soils Testing“
The Bayview Community
Bayview is a low-income predominately black community located directly adjacent to the Hunters Point development. There is a long and tortured history of Lennar ignoring the health and welfare of the Bayview residents while conducting massive grading operations. Prevailing winds carried thousands of pounds of highly toxic soils directly into the heart of the Bayview community.
These soils have been directly linked to substantial increases in asthma, respiratory failure, heart attacks, strokes, and cancer among Bayview residents.
As the headlines above indicated, an investigation proved that soils testing on the Hunters Point site had been faked. Lennar knew but callously disregarded the fact that it was methodically poisoning Bayview residents.
A 27 billion dollar lawsuit was filed on behalf of the almost 40,000 Bayview residents naming Lennar and its consultants. Among the charges outlined in the suit are “fraudulent business practices, false and misleading statements, blatant, callous, and conscious disregard of Bayview residents lives, born and unborn for the next five generations”.