The World's Tallest Shopping Mall?

The 19th Street entrance to the Bacatá's shopping mall.

The BD Bacatá was supposed to be a Bogotá landmark - and it is turning out to be, just not in the way its builders and the city had hoped.

At 67 stories and 217 stories, it is the tallest building in Colombia, the second tallest in South America and the world's first crowd-funded high-rise - and may be close to going broke.

Huawei, one of the mall's tenants.

According to news reports, the builders haven't paid contractors, and investors are asking where their money is. Even the building's name has been seized as an asset, according to one report.

The builders insist that they will finish the building - but it's already years overdue.

Meanwhile, some of the apartments in the shorter northern tower have been occupied, and the ground floor mall is functioning, altho some of the stores have yet to open.

Fashionable bags, coming soon.

Building a mega-project in a run-down section of downtown Bogotá always looked like a challenge. And the project ran into various challenges, including a huge rock at the site, and legal complications stemming from the building's wide variety of tenants: the shopping mall, offices, restaurants, apartments and a luxury hotel.

The Bacatá seen from Plaza Las Nieves,
a run-down district a few blocks away.

The project was perhaps a bad idea for non-economic reasons as well. Its adjoining streets are already congested and chaotic, and the surrounding blocks have little public space and no green space at all.

For the good of Bogotá, and especially downtown, let's hope that the Bacatá limps to completion. The blocks to the project's north are full of apartment blocks and university buildings under construction. It would be a pity to have an unfinished eyesore standing between the university district and the historical center.

If the Bacatá's owners cannot round up the resources to complete their project, hopefully the bank or a big investor (Donald Trump?) will step in a do so.

Until then, call the Bacatá's south tower the world's tallest shopping mall.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Digging for an Emerald in Downtown

Those men you see every weekday along Calle Jimenez near Carrera 7 are emerald traders.

They show off, price and trade emeralds every day, right out in public. 

And, surprisingly, things rarely go wrong.

But, today, a disaster! A trader dropped a valuable emerald - and it went straight down into the sewer!

The emerald is down there, somewhere.

But where is it?

A homeless man, undoubtedly hired for a pittance, goes to work digging up the mud and carrying it away.



The odor from the fetid mud and sewage wasn't very nice.

Where is that little stone?

Passers-by are not amused.

Sifting thru the mud and trash, bit by bit.

Astonishingly, the trader found his stone, which someone told me was worth 30 million pesos - about U.S. $10,000. Wonder how many pesos the homeless man took home?

Neighboring businesspeople will not forget this.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A New Landmark Rises - for Better or Worse

The Torre Bacatá dominates the skyline in this view from La Candelaria.

Calle 19, in front of the Bacatá,
is already congested and chaotic.

The new Torre Bacatá, in downtown, adds a new landmark - and new problems, which the city appears not to have prepared for. Generally, it's good to build downtown, which limits urban sprawl and its compounding traffic troubles. But the 260-meter tall Bacatá, which will be the tallest building in Colombia and the second-tallest in South America, will cause huge troubles in its neighborhood.

The adjoining streets are already chaotic and congested, and this new mini-city will compound that. The Bacatá will contain offices, luxury apartments, a hotel and a shopping mall. And there's little open space, and no green space nearby. How about the quality of life for the residents of this new superstructure and those living nearby?

20th Street, behind the Bacatá:
narrow and already busy.

If I were the unfortunate person in charge of this city, I'd have said: 'Sure, go ahead and build, but you also have to help fund light rail lines on Calle 19 and Carrera Septima, as well as a public park nearby.' Fortunately for me, I'm not in charge.

Carrera 5, on the tower's eastern side, is narrow and pepetually traffic-jammed.

What will cars and trucks entering and leaving this garage on 19th do to traffic?

The only nearby public area is Las Nieves Plaza, the haunt of prostitutes, alcoholics and drug addicts.

Bogotá's skyline, and the Bacatá, seen from near the Central Cemetery on 26th St.

Bacatá, with dramatic architecture.

In a nod toward public space, the Bacatá provided this wide sidewalk on Calle 19.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Reaching for the Sky, Forgetting the Ground?

Trouble on the ground? The unfinished BD Bacata just became the tallest tower in Colombia.

According to news reports, the BD Bacata Tower, being built by the intersection of Carrera 7 and Calle 19, just became the tallest skyscraper in Colombia, surpassing the 48-story, 196-meter Torre Colpatria, on Carrera 7 and Calle 26.

Reaching for the sky: An artist's
rendering of the BD Bacata tower.

I suppose that this is something to be proud of - despite some development researchers' observations that the construction of arrogantly tall buildings often anticipates economic swoons. 

The Bacata's website boasts about the project's urbanistic positives - mostly the fact that its central location won't contribute to sprawl and will reduce travel times to reach it. Those certainly are pluses, as is the potential to use public transit in the area. 

But none of that obviates the need for planning and investment to keep the surroundings livable and transit in the area functioning - things that aren't often the case now, even without this immensity. 

The 66-story BD Bacata will contain a parking lot, shopping mall, offices, apartments and a 364-room hotel. None of those are designed for poor people. Sadly, even with the area's wealth of bus service, most of the complex's users will likely arrive by car, snarling the chaotic traffic on Calle 19 and the narrow secondary streets. (Carrera 7 is currently pedestrian-only during the day.) 

Central Bogotá's skyline, with the Bacatá on the left.

While the Bacata's construction is advancing rapidly, I've seen exactly no, (zippo, 0, nada) transit improvements nearby to prepare for the onslaught of vehicles which this city-in-a-building will generate. In a rational city, of course, the Bacata's builders would be required to contribute to TransMilenio and-or light rail lines to expand the capacity of the adjoining avenues.

I won't even speculate about the capacity of nearby water, sewer and electricity service, nor mention the lack of nearby green space. And, how about urban renewal of the adjoining blocks, which are quite seedy? Will the Bacata's residents and users dare to walk a block outside the building, or immediately take refuge in a private vehicle - compounding perpetual traffic jams?

In an interesting aside, the Bacatá claims to be the world's first crowd-funded skyscraper.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Scenes From El Centro

A rainbow curves above the chaotic Carrera 10 and its decaying buildings. 

Central Bogotá has a not-so-charming reputation for crime, trash, traffic congestion and general grittiness. And much of that is true. However, the area also has lots of culture, life and spontaneous charm.

Members of La Candelaria performing troupes practice their circus skills on Plaza del Periodista, below Monserrate. 

A boy tries walking the slack rope, not very successfully. 

Hamster racing by the Avianca building on Ave. Septima. You place a coin on a bowl, and if the hamster enters your bowl, you win five times what you bet. 

The hamster entered the purple bowl - which had no coin on it. A nice profit for the guinea pig handler.

The guinea pig man collects his profits. Notice that behind him meanwhile his guinea pigs have fled. 

Sunset over Ave. Jimenez. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Step Too far on Pedestrianization?

Transmilenio buses on Ave. Jimenez. Are their days numbered?

Pedestrians and passengers outside Museo de Oro station.
If Jimenez is pedestrianized, this station would
likely be closed. 

Banning loud, dangerous and polluting automobiles can do wonders for city centers, and has humanized Ave. Septima.

But ban all motorized traffic from Jimenez Ave., as Mayor Petro reportedly wants to do?

Jimenez Ave., which connects Ave. Septima to various universities, La Candelaria and the city's Eastern Hills, is also known as the Eje Ambiental, or  the Environmental Axis. But the traffic jams and air pollution have made that a misnomer. But eliminating TransMilenio - despite its uncontrolled smog belching - isn't the way to fix that - just the reverse, rather. 

Las Aguas TM station, which would be closed if buses are
banned from Jimenez Ave. This station was recently expanded
with the addition of an underground tunnel connecting it to
the new Universidades Station. 

Such a move would not only deal a blow to the historical center and its universities, but also discourage use of public transit - ultimately increasing traffic jams throughout the city. 

Delivering public bikes on La Septima.
Why not expand the program up Jimenez Ave.?

Pedaling public bikes on Ave. Septima. 

What La Jimenez really needs is a more efficient TM service, with low-emission buses, to discourage private car use. (Unfortunately, TM just postponed its incorporation of low-emission buses until next year.) At the same time, the city should make the common sense move of expanding the bicycle lending program now operating along Ave. Septima by adding stations along the Eje Ambiental into La Candelaria and to Los Andes University. Even so, however, a lot of people won't want to pedal uphill. Public transit is fundamental to the neighborhood, and TM plays a fundamental role on La Jimenez. 

Traffic jam on Jimenez Ave. What good are
cars when they move more slowly than pedestrians?

On the other hand, banning or heavily restricting the use of private cars on La Jimenez and the historical center would make sense. Today, private cars are increasingly congesting the historical center, making it loud, unpleasant, polluted and dangerous for children. Pedestrianizing some of the streets, as planners have proposed repeatedly, would bring the neighborhood a calm and restore some of its historic atmosphere. Motorized vehicles, after all, aren't very colonial. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Downtown Bogotá's Nowhere Plans

'A project with value.' This area between the San Victorino retail area and Parque Tercer Milenio is supposed to be turned into an 'international wholesale center.' Years after the existing buildings were demolished, we're still waiting. 

As owners of small businesses near the Palacio de Nariño protest plans to force them move out to make way for government ministries, it's worth taking a look at other government renovation plans for parts of the city center which have gone absolutely nowhere.

'Coming soon!' says the sign. But exactly what,and when?

These include a supposed wholesale commercial center near San Victorino - which, years after the signs went up is still an empty lot. And the old Cundinamarca Provincial government building on Jimenez Ave, which has sat vacant for years. And the property on Jimenez Ave. which was first supposed to be the site of a Spanish-Colombian cultural center, until Spain's economy sank and it yanked funding. The city of Bogotá now has plans to build housing and other stuff on the property. But, years after the existing buildings were demolished, it's still - you guessed it - an empty lot.

Would they do any better with the sector

'International center of wholesale commerce.' Except that it's a parking lot. 

The old Cundinamarca government building on Jimenez Ave. has sat vacant for years. Last I heard it was supposed to be turned into an arts center. We're still waiting.

'The center of Bogotá is being renovated here.' This valuable property on Jimenez Ave. near Los Andes University was supposed to become a Spanish-Colombian Cultural Center - until Spain's economy collapsed. Now, the city has plans to build housing and other things here. But, so far, it's just an empty lot.

For years, someone's planned a shopping center for this empty lot on Carrera Septima and Calle 19. It's a sad scene, but the city could find much better uses for the area, such as a park and mass transit center. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours