Construction and Destruction

It seems that the construction boom in Mexico City continues unabated.  New buildings are going up everywhere.  On my walks through the city, there are projects that I have been keeping track of, and, as you know, every so often, I do an update on new buildings.

Downtown, along Juárez Avenue, this apartment building is nearing completion.  It replaces a structure that was damaged in the 2017 earthquake.  The bottom floors are supposed to house a Porrúa Bookstore, replacing the store that was there before.

Just down the street work on this strikingly modern building continues.  It will house the National Agrarian Registry (whatever that is), and replaces an abandoned government building that was long an eyesore.

Meanwhile, along Paseo de la Reforma, another project seems to be stalled.  In 2016 an entire block was cleared as the site for the construction of the Torre Reforma Colon.  The planned 72-story building is supposed to be the tallest in the city.  Nine years later, the block is still surrounded by graffiti-covered barricades.

I peeked through a crack in the barricade, and although there are workers on the site, not much is happening.

I do not know the reason for the delay, but an article I found says that work is to resume this year and that the tower should be complete in 2030.

I walked around the entire block, and I saw this once elegant mansion within the construction site.  According to law, any building of historic or artistic value must be restored and incorporated into any new construction project.  Surely that is why it is still standing on this otherwise empty lot.

Farther down Reforma, the University Tower, nears completion.  The 58-story skyscraper will house luxury condos and is adjacent to a mansion built in 1904 that now houses the exclusive University Club.

Practically next door to the University Tower is a modern, but abandoned office building.  (In this photo, the University Tower appears to meld into empty structure.)

The building is obviously relatively new, but according to a sign hanging on the structure, it is slated for complete demolition.  Did it suffer structural damage in the 2017 quake?

Turning the corner onto Insurgentes Avenue is a building which definitely needs to be razed.  For more than a decade I have passed by this abandoned high rise that is an eyesore.

By typing in the address, I was actually able to find a newspaper article from 2022 about the building.  The 17-story structure was built in 1954, and originally housed the offices of an insurance company and then later a labor union.  It was abandoned due to structural damage (from the 1985 earthquake???).  The article stated that the property had been purchased by a group of entrepreneurs who planned to demolish the building and build an apartment tower.  That was two and a half years ago.  I would not doubt that government bureaucracy is holding up the process.

Finally here's a property that I knew very well.  On Amsterdam Street in the Condesa neighborhood there was an apartment building where I rented an Airbnb on eight different trips to Mexico City between 2014 and 2017.  The building was eventually demolished due to damage in the 2017 quake.  Every time I pass through the area, I look to see what is going on.  At long last, construction is going on in earnest.  There are always workers and a lot of construction equipment.  The last time I passed by, they were beginning excavation for the foundation of a new building, and a front loader was hauling dirt to a dump truck parked on the street.