Santa Fe (Mexico City)

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Panoramic view of Santa Fe

Santa Fe is one of Mexico City's major central business districts, located west of the city in the delegaciones (boroughs) of Cuajimalpa and Álvaro Obregón. The main access to the district is through Paseo de la Reforma, Constituyentes, and its extensions. Santa Fe consists mainly of building highrises built around a huge shopping mall, which is actually the largest mall in Latin America and the third in the World (Centro Comercial Santa Fe), although it also has a residential area and (three) college campuses, among other facilities.

1 History
2 Area Statistics
3 Criticism
4 Today
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

Santa Fe, Mexico City's new business district

After the 1985 earthquakes, Mexico City’s inhabitants and businesses began to move from central areas of the city towards the western suburbs--this migration mainly due to the congestion and earthquake prone soil of central Mexico City. This movement started in the 1950’s with the creation of Las Lomas and continued in the following decades with the creation of newer neighborhoods like Bosques de las Lomas and La Herradura in the western hills of the city. One of the first structures built there (late 1980s) was the new campus for the Universidad Iberoamericana which lost its main campus during an earthquake in 1979.

This during the government of President Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994), the Federal District was still governed directly by the federal government through the Federal District Department which was headed by Manuel Camacho Solís. It was during his administration that the master plan to use the land that has been used as landfill and for sand mining.

The fact that the land was strategically situated near high income neighborhoods and the new toll road to Toluca was an important considerations, however it was (an still is) also surrounded by the low income Pueblo de Santa Fe.

The master plan called for a planned community that included business, schools, housing and retail sectors. The master plan and the design were made at a time when there were great expectations about the Mexican economy and big plans were made including a huge shopping mall.

However the 1994 Mexican economic crisis changed all that and a lot of the development of the area was halted, cut back or cancelled. Only some offices and the mall were built. It has taken almost ten years, and the present City wide building boom, for big development to resume.

[edit] Area Statistics

Santa Fe skyscrapers

Divided into 10 sectors: downtown, Cruz Manca, La Fe, La Loma, La Mexicana, Totolapa, Paseo de las Lomas, Peña Blanca, Bosques de Santa Fe and the school zone
13.80% of the total area of offices in the city
Commercial rent between 20 and 25 dollars per square meter in a class A+ (highest-ranked) building
70,000 employees
4,311 resident families
8 million shopping mall visitors per year
4 universities
13,500 students

[edit] Criticism

Santa Fe was designed as a planned community; however urbanists designed it as a car centric suburb and left it without a human scale. Depending who you ask Santa Fe is either cutting edge development ripe for imitation, or it is on the verge of disaster[1]. There are very little road connections to the rest of the city, public transportation is almost non existent and public infrastructure and space for pedestrians is very limited. This result in big traffic jams and decreased quality of life.

According to some, social segregation may be a more serious problem than the lack of infrastructure. Since the Pueblo of Santa Fe had already existed there before the office and apartment towers are also surrounded by humble neighborhoods of cinderblock apartments stacked precariously on the slopes. The lack of road connections and its location in the edge of the city increase the island effect. Beyond its function as a business hub, Santa Fe is not a magnet for nightlife or recreational activities, as are Polanco or Condesa. Even its huge shopping mall is relatively underutilized and its rents are well bellow shopping malls (Perisur, Plaza Satellite) in more established neighborhoods.

[edit] Today

Calakmul building also known as La Lavadora (The washing machine)

Despite the criticism Santa Fe continues its development. However, the lack of infrastructure and over-investment have created an oversupply of commercial real estate. According to Colliers the vacancy rate in Santa Fe is 27 percent (2005), the highest in the city. This oversupply in the commercial real estate market can also be seen in the monthly rent, having been the highest in the city for A+ buildings it is now in well in the average c (range of 25 to 20 dollars per square meter) bellow central Paseo de la Reforma and Polanco markets.