Mérida, Yucatán — The view from outside doesn’t do justice to the progress made inside.
Step by step, a massive urban village called Via Montejo is unfolding from within a fenced-in 62-acre construction site north of the Galerias mall.
When all its phases are completed, the modern mini-city will have 14 towers, an artificial lake, shopping, residences and offices.
Behind the protective fence, teams of builders are working under the direction of a Yucatecan developer, Inmobilia Desarrollos.
Corporate and project managers of the Corporate park, Jorge Eduardo Peón Kelleher and architect Gabriela Sosa Aguirre, led a tour of reporters from Diario de Yucatán.
They said that three of the 10-story office towers will be space for major local, regional, national or international companies. The other four towers, still in concept phase, may be medical buildings or hosting centers.
For the general public, the Harbor Mall is the big attraction. Due to open the first half of 2018, it will include tunnel access and an artificial lake. An anchor store will be Gran Chapur, the locally owned department store.
The 10-year timeline for the overall project is somewhat hazy, although the developers say they have signed deals on multiple residential and commercial leases.
Via Montejo will be integrated to the Paseo de Montejo extension road and the Periférico, where work begin in November.
The project represents Mérida’s changing character. A steel plant once occupied the parcel, one of the first things drivers see when approaching the city from the north.
Via Montejo will be a natural rival to another large retail complex that will be a 10-minute-drive away: La Isla at Cabo Norte. A new Liverpool department store and an amusement park will be the most dominant features of that complex.
Both malls claim to be the largest in southeast Mexico.
Source: Diario de Yucatán
