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

What's Going on With the BD Bacata?

See anybody working on those unfinished upper stories? Neither to I.

Announced with lots of fanfare, the BD Bacatá tower was to be a glorious new landmark on Bogota's skyline: It would consist of Colombia's two highest buildings, containing high-status offices, luxury apartments, a hotel and a shopping mall.

And it yet may be. But today, it's an inglorious one.

The ground-floor mall is operating.

The two-tower complex's taller, 67-floor south tower, with its knife-like design said to be modeled after a skyscraper in Dubai, stands unfinished, and I haven't seen anybody working on its upper stories for months. (The ground-floor mall is open, and some of the apartments are said to be occupied.)

Even as the building's upper columns and walls suffer from heat, cold, sun and rain, the builders have stayed silent, and the media haven't enquired - despite this conspicuous problem - leaving one to speculate.

Did the money run out? The Bacatá was crowdfunded, said to be the world's first skyscraper financed that way. The investors, who were promised that the building would be finished and they'd be enjoying returns years ago, are understandably upset.

It's often good to increase urgan density instead of spreading a city out. But the Bacatá was built in an area with already congested streets and little public space - and much less green space - nearby.

Sure would be a pity for this building to stand as a monument to unrealistic ego and excessive ambition.

Offices and apartments for rent.

Incidentally, I sent BD Bacata a message via their website asking them what was going on, but they have not replied.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A White Elephant Towering Over Bogotá?

Is anybody working up there?
The two-tower BD Bacata
looks quiet these days.

The BD Bacata skyscraper started out in the year 2013 with great promise - or at least promises. Colombia's new tallest building - and the second tallest in South America - would be the world's first crowdfunded high-rise and produce returns for investors at double the bank rate. The two-tower complex - to include a shopping mall, hotel, luxury apartments and offices - wouldn't even worsen traffic jams in the already-congested area.

The promoters' promises sounded too good to be true, and so far they have been. Construction is now years behind schedule, and investors who each poured tens of millions of pesos into the trillion peso project, are complaining. The Bacata's builders say the project will operate this year, and the mall section looks close to completion. However, during the past weeks I haven't seen anybody working on the unfinished towers. The project'¿s backers explain that they ran into legal and other delays, including a huge rock underground.

The mall looks near completiion.

The skyscraper was never a great idea by urban design standards. It's on a busy, chaotic avenue, with only a narrow access to its parking garage. And the building has little public space, and no green space at all nearby.

Now, I wonder whether it'll get finished, and I feel sorry for those who counted on it for a life-long 'guaranteed' income.

A century ago, the Edificio Peraza on Calle 13 across from the Estación de la Sabana was Colombia's tallest building.

Today, however, it appears vacant and decrepit.

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