Residents of the Los Olivos subdivision in Tijuana say two unauthorized apartment buildings on a hillside along Avenida Géminis are cracking their walls, splitting their floors, and opening a sinkhole beneath their homes. The illegal 8-story build has continued despite three separate shutdown orders from the city.
The municipal Dirección de Administración Urbana (DAU), Tijuana’s urban planning authority, shut the project down in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Each time, the permits on file covered only a retaining wall, not multi-story residential towers. Each time, construction resumed.
Sinkhole, Cracked Walls, and a Subterranean River
Neighbors say the excavation work has destabilized the ground above a subterranean river running beneath the hillside. An independent technical report commissioned by residents confirmed the soil is unstable and unsuitable for the type of construction underway. City civil protection officials have already tagged at least one neighboring home with a yellow risk marker.
Despite those findings, the eight-story building is already marketing units for sale. Luxury homes on an adjacent parcel are listed at 8.73 million pesos each (roughly $436,000 USD). Residents identified Jesús Cruz as the contractor responsible for the project.
Fifty Years on the Hill, Now Forced Out
Héctor Montaño, whose family has lived on the property for more than 50 years, filed formal complaints in May with the DAU, civil protection, and Tijuana Mayor Ismael Burgueño. He has received no response from any of them. Instead, the developer pursued legal action against Montaño. His family was forced to vacate a room next to the slope under threat of criminal charges.
Tijuana’s hillside neighborhoods have a long history of construction on unstable terrain. In 2023, homes in Colonia de Rey were evacuated after a hillside slowly collapsed, reportedly due to a water main break. Across the city, civil protection has posted risk signs on homes built on slopes prone to landslides and flooding.
Closure Orders With No Teeth
The Los Olivos case exposes a pattern: municipal closure orders carry little practical weight when developers resume work without consequence. The DAU issued three separate stop-work orders over three years, yet the project grew from a retaining wall permit to an eight-story tower with units on the market.
Residents are now left absorbing the financial and physical damage. Cracked foundations, shifting soil, and a tagged home reduce property values and create safety risks that no city agency has stepped in to address.
This story was first reported by Punto Norte on June 8, 2026.