Tuesday, April 17, 2007

PASEO MORELIA MALL - APRIL 8TH, 2007

Click on photos to enlarge.
To the right, my truck is parked on the street that leads down from the traffic circle towards Morelia, the connection to the tunnel will be here. To the left of the photo, the mall construction can be seen.


This photo below shows the enormity of the mall, which will encompass close to 90,000 square meters (see gicsa.com.mx). The perimeter road to the right in the photo leads back to my pickup.



It wasn't that easy, but being Easter Sunday, there was very little vigilance in the construction site, so I took the liberty of climbing up inside to get this view of Morelia below. When enlarged, you can see the access road to the right leading up to Tres Marias Golf club. In the foreground, on the far left of the photo, you can see one of the many feral horses that roam these pastures and woods up here. They are as perplexed about what is happening as I am! :)

Monday, April 16, 2007

Golf Course photos - Taken April 8th, 2007

Click on images to enlarge, the Punta Monarca community can be seen to the left. Morelia is in the distance.

Here in this photo, you can appreciate the beauty of the area. The Moorish Group is designing this course. It is aimed to being more "golfer friendly" so that the average duffer can enjoy his/her round time and time again.
I expect the developers are working their best to have the course laid out and seeded, before the seasonal rains come.

Ecological Reserve del Rio Chiquito

One of the biggest obstacles to the construction of the Megatunnel and Mall projects has been that it is being built very near, if not within, an ecological reserve formed under the Government of Lazaro Cardenas en the early 1930s. This reserve is the main watershed region for the city of Morelia with the Rio Chiquito running through it. The reserve is known as the "Cuenca hidrogrfica del Rio Chiquito"


Boundaries are:




1. La Nopalera hill

2. Puerto del Venado

3. Cerro de Aparicio

4. Cerro Alto, Punta de Tierra, La

Rosa

5. Cerro Azul

6. Agua Zarca

7. Cruz de los Zimbos o Cruz Gorda

8. Cerro Verde

9. Pueblo de Jesus del Monte (red X is my house)

PHOTOS OF THE RIO CHIQUITO RESERVE















Sunday, April 15, 2007

Overview of the New Morelia Expansion

This map shows the area of expansion for the New Morelia. The area in blue is where most of the projects will take place.

The dark blue line shows the present road that winds down from Jesus del Monte through Santa Maria, ending in either the Paloma intersection or at Morelos Sur on Camelinas (near the zoo and Star Medica)







The above map shows the long range planned growth of the southern sector of Morelia. Yellow line is Avenida Camelinas. The red line is the current project known as the "Megatunnel" that will connect the city to the upper plateau where the mall, golf course, and numerous planned gated communities will be.

The dark blue shows where a perimeter road is planned connecting the tunnel extension, which would by-pass Santa Maria, El Durazno, and Fracc. Mesoamericano, ending at Libramiento Independencia near Costco (Independencia and Camelinas are one and the same, their name just changes depending on which part of the city you are in.

The brown, aqua, and red roads are planned outlets connecting to the Patzcuaro Highway. When and if all of these roads will be built is anyone's guess, but for now, the Paseo de Morelia Mall, Bosque Monarca Golf course, and tunnel project are under way and due for completion sometime in 2008.

I lifted these aerial photos off of the Morelia government's website. For a detail description of the tunnel project, including re-forestation of trees etc. visit :

http://www.morelia.gob.mx/web/Html/Hechos/Tunel%20Vial/PRESENTACIONtunelPARAinternetOK%20Abril2007.pdf





This photo shows the Cointzio Dammed lake which you can see at the bottom of the previous map.









Saturday, April 14, 2007

Mega tunnel - aerial view of Project


Here is an aerial shot of where the proposed tunnel will be built. You can see the construction of the mall Paseo Morelia in the lower right hand corner of the photo.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Torres Monarca





Here is a computer generated design of the 3 towers that are to be built in front of the Tecnologica de Monterrey. Right now there is one tower completed and construction of the second tower began in Decmber 2006. I have been told the 2nd tower is completely sold off. Last I checked, which was in Summer 2006, apartments started at @ $ 80,000 usd.







Here is the construction of the second tower, the second floor cement floor has been poured. Photo taken 1-23-2007.






Here is the progress of the second tower. This photo was taken Easter Sunday 2007 (April). I have been told the apartments are now selling for over $100,000 usd, and that most of the second tower has been sold. The 3rd and final tower construction should begin here in a few months.






Thursday, January 25, 2007

Bosques Monarca

The second major player in la Nueva Morelia is Francisco Medina, a local entrpreneur with auto dealerships throughout Mexico. He is the principal owner of all the land up here near Jesus del Monte that will become Montaña Monarca. The company GICSA is the contractor behind the Paseo de Morelia mall. They are a large contractor out of Mexico City, it is rumored that Carlos Slim is behind GICSA. Paseo Morelia will be the largest mall in the GICSA system, and one of the largest in Latin America.


As stated earlier, Enrique Ramirez has his pet golf course, not to be outdone, Francisco "Paco" Medina is now constructing his up here. Below are the photos of what will become Bosques Montana CC. Keep in mind, 3-4 months ago, I was walking through these woods, they were just starting to move dirt around.

The photo at the right was taken from the highest point in the perimeter road that runs around the golf course. The brick structure in the middle (click on photo to enlarge it) is Los Corporales Salon de Fiesta. The white tower for the tech would be just outside of this photo to the left. The author´s home is in the distance in line with Los Corporales at the far tree line.





This photo was taken from the same spot, just moving left. The Tec Tower can be seen, and behind that in the distance, is the new construction for Paseo Morelia. You are looking north. The foreground sandy areas are where the golf course is.




Same vantage point, just moved the camera to the left, Golf holes in foreground, the white buildings in the distance are in the gated community of Punta Monarca. I really believe that Bosques Monarca will be the neighborhood to live in Morelia. Much more naturally scenic than Tres Marias.





Here is part of the perimeter road around the golf course. After hiking through these woods over the years, my only hope is that they will zone this community for at least 1 acre lots.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Monarch Mountain Project

This blog was created to inform my family and others interested in the new mega-development in Morelia that is being billed as the ¨New Morelia¨. It includes the Montaña Monarca project, and Ciudad Tres Marias.



These 2 major developments include many gated subdivisions with names such as Punta Monarca, Bosques Morelia, Torres Monarca, Paseo de Morelia Mall, Tres Marias Golf and Equestrian club, Bosques Montaña Golf Course, Tecnologia de Monterrey campus Morelia, UNAM cumpus Morelia, Jefferson High School, Varmond School, etc.




The photo below shows the tower in the Torres Monarca project, which is near the Tec de Monterrey. It was taken from the balcony of my bedroom, hence you can see why I have a vested interest in the Montaña Monarca Project.



I am by no means an expert on this. What I state in this blog is based on chismes (gossip), and what I have learned from forums in Spanish on the internet. I hope those that are informed of new developments in these projects will share their knowledge with me by leaving comments in either Español or English. I hope to update this with more photos as the months progress.








I took this graphic and photo off of another site. They show the small strip mall in front of the Tec de Monterrey Campus. If you drive towards Jesus del Monte out of Santa Maria in Morelia, you will come to a traffic circle. Going right at this circle will bring you to the Tec campus, further on are several developments, the Torres Montaña, and the new golf course calles Bosques Montaña. (see below)










Going around the traffic circle (left), will lead you to this dead end street. The construction for Paseo de Morelia is just to the left of this photo. This avenue will eventually be connected to the 2 tunnels (4 lanes in total) that will wind down to the intersection of Camelinas and Blvd. Sanson Flores, near the IMSS.






PASEO DE MORELIA, CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS JANUARY 2007

These photos were taken at the end of the street leading down from the traffic circle. Somewhere below these trees will be 4 lanes of traffic going through tunnels. This is a reality, tunnel construction starts any day now. It has been approved by the government, and a contractor has already gone through the solicitation process. The contractor is from a mining company in Northern Mexico, Chihuahua I believe.

This photo below shows you the view up here. The cathedral is just to the right of the construction shack, through the trees.


Entrance to mall, and beginnings of the construction. If you scroll up to the first photo with the horses. You will see the construction grading in the background. This is how the project was 2 years ago. But with the elections in the past, construction has started anew within the last few months.





Paseo Morelia is a small part of what is planned for the "Nuevo Morelia".

You have two major players in this arena. The first is Enrique Ramirez, of Organizacion Ramirez fame, his project is the Tres Marias Country club, whose course was designed by Jack Nicklaus (www.tresmarias.com.mx). It hosts a LPGA tour event every year. ¨"Ciudad Tres Marias" is currently building a highway connecting it to the airport. It is home to several schools, including the UNAM satellite campus.


Enrique wishes to construct one of the largest Convention centers in Mexico to attract corporations to locate their corporate offices here for their executives, kind of like a mini Stamford CT, I guess!

One company that is rumored to have signed on is Posadas de Mexico, this is a computer image of its proposed corporate tower to be built in Ciudad Tres Marias.







Of course, Organization Ramiriz also owns Plaza Las Americas, which is getting a facelift. I have driven by those boarded up construction site, but did not realize the extent to the cosmetic surgery to be performed. Below are some computer renditions of the design and photos of what is going on behind those fences. It surprised me.