Gentrification

I have written before about the problem of gentrification in Mexico City.  Trendy neighborhoods such as Condesa and Roma are attracting digital nomads, and more and more tourists are choosing Airbnb rentals instead of hotels.  As a result, landlords, eager to cash in on the neighborhoods' popularity, are raising rents.  Longtime residents are being priced out of apartments where they have lived for years and are forced to move to less desirable neighborhoods.  This in turn has led to gentrification with new construction and higher prices in those neighborhoods.

One example of this is the "colonia" known as Doctores.  Although it borders on Roma, it has long been considered a dangerous part of the city.  Actually, the criminal activity is largely confined to auto theft and the chop shops that sell stolen auto parts, but Mexico City residents have long tended to avoid it and consider it a "barrio bravo" (rough neighborhood).  Recently, I was walking along the periphery of Doctores, or across the border on the Roma side of Cuauhtémoc Avenue.  I was struck by the number of new apartment building that had been built or which were under construction.  This area was hard hit by the 2017 earthquake, and I suspect that these new projects are on properties that suffered damage.

An artist's depiction of a new apartment building under construction in Doctores...

  

These brand-new apartment buildings are on the Doctores' side of Cuauhtémoc Avenue and contrast with the surrounding neighborhood.  The first one is conveniently located by a Metrobus stop.

This building under construction is offering apartments at a pre-sale price starting at 2,720,000 pesos (158,000 U.S. dollars), a price that is certainly far beyond the reach of most residents of Doctores.