YesSix real estate projects in Cartagena (Northern Zone) and Barú, including two hotels, a shopping center and three housing complexes are promoted and developed in different stages by the Colombian construction firm Arquitectura & Concreto. The projects together commit investments that approach 2 billion pesos.
Francisco Martínez, president of that company, highlighted the investments in Barú, in a project called Calablanca, which consists of a hotel, already in operation for 2 years (Sofitel Barú Calablanca), plus 12 apartment towers, of which already 4 are built, and 2 are starting work. (Read here: Cartagena will have the largest shopping center in the Colombian Caribbean).
“That is a 100% tourist destination today, but eventually to the extent that road conditions improve, that could be an alternative for presidents or managers of companies that are located in the Mamonal sector,” Martínez said. This project has 60 hectares, 20 for the hotel and 40 for housing solutions. The real estate part of the project is 50% complete. The investments in this project, which started 6 years ago with permits and 4 years ago with works, are estimated at 120 million dollars; while in terms of employment it has generated 400 opportunities in the construction stage and in the hotel alone, in its operation, it has 300 employees, almost all of them from the communities of Ararca and Santana. The entire project should be completed in 2028.
The firm Arquitectura & Concreto presented Minvivienda and Mayor Turbay with a proposal to build a free VIS megaproject on the northern shore of the La Virgen swamp. There would be 15 thousand units.
In the North Zone
With a group of international investors, a 207-hectare lot was acquired in the North Zone of Cartagena, on the corner of Vía del Mar and Route 90, in front of the entrance to Manzanillo del Mar, where the Azul de Arenas, which already has three stages in good sales progress: Krystal Blue (1,500 apartments, with about 600 already sold, which will have a crystal lagoons in the center), Blu Ville, 300 houses, and the third phase is a shopping center ( Kristal Malls Cartagena Shopping Resort), which is considered to be the largest in the Colombian Caribbean and will be developed around a crystal lagoons. So far it has confirmed two anchor stores: Almacenes Éxito and Homecenter. It will have 220 commercial spaces that include gyms, restaurants, movie theaters and a 200-room Hyatt hotel.
Investments in the shopping center and the hotel total close to 1.3 billion pesos.
This project and the housing component will be formally launched on May 23 and it is estimated that work will begin between October of this year and the beginning of 2025.
Proposal for VIS
Martínez also showed the company’s interest in participating in a free social housing macroproject (VIS) on land around the northern shore of the La Virgen swamp, which is held by the Special Assets Society (Sociedad de Activos Especiales (Special Assets Society) SAE), as a solution to the precarious housing conditions of thousands of inhabitants of the edge and interior of that body of water. The initiative is already being discussed with the national and district governments to achieve its structuring. “I already proposed it to the Minister of Housing and spoke about the issue with Mayor Dumek Turbay,” Martínez said.
The land, of about 150 hectares, would require filling in some areas and its magnitude would allow the construction of around 15 thousand housing units. “We would like to help the city resolve this housing issue or mitigate it in a good way,” he concluded.
Nearly 2 billion pesos total the different projects promoted and developed by Arquitectura & Concreto in Cartagena and Barú.
Arquitectura & Concreto is a 100% Colombian firm, with 34 years in the market and 20 on the Caribbean Coast, where they started in Barranquilla. They also have developments in Cartagena, Santa Marte, Medellín and Bogotá.
Some of the iconic works of this company are the Viva Shopping Center on Carrera 53 in Barranquilla, the Sofitel Barú Calablanca, with two years of operation and almost a dozen international awards. In Bogotá, the Centro Mayor shopping center, the largest in that city; in Medellín the El Tesoro shopping center and Ruta N, among other works. (Read here: The United States would have a consulate in Cartagena for the Caribbean Coast).
