Some mansions still abandoned on the Paseo de Montejo

Rosas y Xocolate started as dilapidated pair of mansions on the Paseo de Montejo. Photo: Rosas y Xocolate

Mérida, Yucatán —  The Paseo de Montejo’s 3.4 miles of grand mansions, high-end hotels and delightful restaurants is one of the city’s top tourist attractions.

But somehow, some of its grand mansions remain in a dilapidated condition, which is something one business leader has urged the government to act on.

Rosas y Xocolate as it appears today on the Paseo de Montejo. Photo: Rosas y Xocolate

The Vice President of Tourism of the Chamber of Commerce of Mérida, Carol Kolozs, said that the officials must pressure the owners of the abandoned houses to fix them up, or give them up.

Kolozs is also owner of the Rosas y Xocolate spa, hotel and restaurant, which was built on the ruins of two rundown Paseo mansions.

Local, state and federal government must intervene and press for the rescue of the houses on the boulevard, possibly acquiring them under a regime of heritage protection.

Starbucks transformed an old mansion on the Paseo de Montejo. Photo: TripAdvisor

Koloz stated, in comments published in Punto Medio, urged a comprehensive program to bring the Paseo de Montejo to its potential.

“The avenue of the Paseo de Montejo must remain as an emblem of the city, as the best point of reference of a city that loves culture,” said the businessman.

The Paseo de Montejo is named after Francisco de Montejo, the Spanish conquistador that founded the city in 1542, and was inspired by the France’s grand boulevard, the Champs-Élysées.

Some 19th-century mansions, like the Palacio Cantón, are used today as museums, while others are shops, restaurants and corporate offices.

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