Pablo Novillo
09/15/2021 18:04
Clarín.com
Cities
Updated 09/15/2021 18:04
A construction company promised to give part of a piece of land to install
a square in the heart of Buenos Aires
.
In exchange, they will authorize you to build a building on the rest of the property.
The land is in the block between
Córdoba, Reconquista, Viamonte and San Martín
.
It is the lot that for years has occupied a private parking lot, which is behind the
Santa Catalina de Siena
convent
, one of the oldest in Buenos Aires.
The proposal is to allocate some 5,000 square meters to the creation of the green space, whose financing, close to 5 million dollars, would be borne by the company. The square should be
completed before March 1, 2024
, official sources explained.
In return, the City would allow private parties to increase the construction capacity authorized to make a building.
Today, they could lift up to 38 meters high and a volume of 39,400 square meters.
With the change, they would go to 46,600 m2 in up to 72 meters (about 20 floors) on Córdoba Avenue, which is
the height that the building in the next lot already has
.
In other words, the entrepreneur could make more floors and more volume, but on a smaller floor, because it would give space, precisely, for the installation of the square.
This is how the new square would look, behind the Santa Catalina de Siena convent, between Córdoba, San Martín, Viamonte and Reconquista.
On the right, the future building.
An old conflict would thus be solved. In 2011, the Buenos Aires government had authorized the construction of the entire lot that the parking lot occupies. Two years later, and due to a complaint from the NGO Basta de Demoler, the work was paralyzed by the Justice. The cause? That
the building of the Santa Catalina convent
, which is part of the cultural heritage of the City and the country,
was put at risk
, since it is a National Historic Monument.
It was inaugurated on
December 21, 1745
, as was the accompanying church.
It is one of the oldest and best preserved colonial complexes that remain in Buenos Aires.
In addition to its religious uses, today many residents take the opportunity to enter their patio, which works almost like an oasis in the heart of the City.
Among other activities, in 2001 the convent hosted the Casa FOA exhibition.
The urban agreement signed by the Buenos Aires government and the company, whose owner is Carlos Schargorosdky, was sent to the Buenos Aires Legislature, along with 15 other agreements with private parties that, in exchange for certain special construction permits, will contribute
36 million dollars together.
.
That money will go to a Sustainable Urban Development Fund (FODUS), which would be created by law and would be used to finance projects that allow
the City's Micro and Macrocenter
to be
reactivated
, through mortgage loans for the purchase or rental of apartments in that area, and also to convert offices into homes.
This is how the new square in downtown Buenos Aires would look like.
All these agreements must be approved by the legislators, then they have to go through a non-binding public hearing, and finally be sanctioned a second time.
Since 31 votes are needed to achieve this, and the ruling bench has 37, it is understood that they would be approved without much difficulty.
Álvaro García Resta, Secretary of Urban Development of the City, assured that “this type of tools, such as urban agreements, allow us to generate green space in places where there is none today.
A square of half a block in the Microcentro is invaluable in the recovery and reconversion of that neighborhood ”.
The 16 agreements sent to the Legislature are in turn part of a total of 113 that the City is analyzing, following a
call
launched earlier this year precisely for private developers to bring these types of proposals.
The parking lot where they will make the plaza, which will have 5,000 square meters, in Córdoba and Reconquista.
Photo Lucia Merle
The idea was to prioritize those that favor the upturn in neighborhoods such as
San Telmo, Monserrat, Constitución Oeste, Barracas and La Boca
, where the need for private investment is most noticeable.
Priority is also given to those projects that propose mixed uses, which combine housing with commercial operations.
And even more so if they involve the creation of green spaces, in a city that has an obvious deficit in this area.
Look also
They will create a fund to finance works in southern neighborhoods and the center of the City
The Buenos Aires Government wants to authorize private constructions in exchange for them to carry out public works