Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – President Claudia Sheinbaum has urged would‑be buyers to steer clear of the “Carmelitas” condominium project rising above the cliffs of Conchas Chinas in Puerto Vallarta, after residents alleged the development flouts zoning rules and lacks the mandatory environmental impact study. “Que no compren departamentos ahí (Don’t buy apartments there),” the president said during her daily morning press conference. She added that the federal government would “take the case back and review it.”
The issue reached the national stage when reporter Olga Ojeda Lajud, used the Q‑and‑A portion of the morning news conference to lay out local concerns. Vallarta residents, she said, have documented closure orders and court rulings that have been ignored while construction continues. Sheinbaum replied: “Con gusto tomamos el caso de nuevo y lo revisamos” (“We’re happy to look at it again and review it”).
Citizen groups and the Conchas Chinas Homeowners Association argue the tower breaches the 2012 Partial Urban Development Plan, which caps building height in the hillside enclave at nine metres. The structure already exceeds that limit and has proceeded without a favorable ruling from the federal environment ministry (SEMARNAT), they contend. PROFEPA, the federal environmental‑protection agency, even sealed the site in January 2023 for lacking an approved environmental impact statement, but work later resumed.
The confrontation is not new. In June 2021, former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador publicly instructed SEMARNAT to investigate large residential projects in the same coastal zone after similar complaints about ecological damage and zoning violations. While that pledge reassured residents at the time, enforcement has remained uneven, fueling calls for stronger intervention.
Conchas Chinas—often dubbed “the Beverly Hills of Vallarta” for its exclusive villas and steep, fragile terrain—faces heightened landslide risk and overloaded infrastructure if overscale buildings proliferate. Environmental advocates warn that unchecked development could accelerate erosion, threaten marine ecosystems below, and burden already‑strained services.
Sheinbaum did not specify a timeline, but federal officials are expected to revisit permits, closure orders and pending court rulings. Residents say they will resume legal action if construction continues. Meanwhile, the president’s blunt caution to prospective buyers may chill sales in the luxury tower and increase pressure on developers to comply with regulations—or face demolition orders, should authorities confirm the irregularities.
Developers behind Carmelitas have not yet responded to requests for comment. Units are currently being sold on MLS by Homia Real Estate Agency in Puerto Vallarta.
