The Covid-19 pandemic hit the office rental market, which still cannot be recovered. Today the supply of these spaces exceeds the demand -in part due to the prevalence of working at home-, so the government of Mexico City and real estate developers are exploring the possibility of converting square meters of offices into homes or hotels

This was one of the issues addressed by the head of government, Claudia Sheinbaum; the president of the Mexican Business Council and Grupo Kaluz, Antonio del Valle; the president of the Association of Real Estate Developers (ADI) and other entrepreneurs during a private meeting, where a second meeting was agreed in 30 days to address specific projects.

After the conclave, which lasted for more than an hour behind closed doors at the Kaluz Museum, the capital president specified that it was a first approach to generate a common agenda aimed at the economic reactivation of the city and the generation of employment, which will be based mainly on the construction, services and entertainment sectors.

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Regarding the real estate sector, the head of government commented that the issue of the conversion of underused or unoccupied office buildings to housing and mixed uses was addressed.

"We are working on it so that, in less than a month, the decree is already in place and all these activities can begin to be developed," the president reported.

In January of this year, the Congress of Mexico City approved the change from office land use to mixed use (hotel) for real estate developments in National Army 769 (Miyana-Grupo Gigante); National Army 843 (Antara Phase II- Grupo Sordo Madaleno); Moliere 515 (Hotel Moliere- Eli Sitt) and Río San Joaquín 498 (Cuadrante Neuchatel- Mira Companies), all located in the Granada and Ampliación Granada neighborhoods, an area known as Nuevo Polanco.

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This decision caused discomfort among the residents of both neighborhoods, who consider that the Nuevo Polanco industrial estate has been built in a disorderly manner and the mitigation measures for real estate developments have not been applied for the benefit of the neighborhood, but rather for the buildings themselves. In addition, they warned that generating hotels will mean putting pressure on mobility in the area.

Regarding the special program for urban regeneration and inclusive housing, launched in November 2019 and of which it is still not known how many or which developers are participating, Sheinbaum Pardo mentioned that some construction companies have suggested that the price of land in these areas prevents generating a business model to detonate housing, so they will work with the Institute for Democratic and Prospective Planning "so that, in a very short term, they can also be strengthened."

If you need to find an apartment in Polanco to buy, you can enter Solili and review the options that there are, with prices starting at 2,200,000 pesos.

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