The sky's the limit for BD Bacatá

BD Promotores is the company responsible for the construction of BD Bacatá, Latin America’s tallest skyscraper and due for completion in 2014. Made up of 66 floors, Bogotá’s new landmark will forever change the face of the city center, hosting offices, apartments, restaurants, a shopping center and a hotel.
Those involved in the project are convinced that a development of this size, estimated at $120 million, will show the world that Colombia is ready and able to handle major international investment projects and compete with cities such as Miami and New York.

BD Bacatá is born

The complex opens the way for a new scale of development in the heart of Bogotá as part of the city’s transformation. “It should be a building to make the citizens of Bogotá proud. It will be on Bogotá’s postcards,” says Emilio Borrella, General Director of BD Promotores Colombia.

This monumental project is the company’s vision now; the project however was not conceived as such. BD Promotores acquired an old antique hotel in the city center, called Bacatá, with the more modest intention that their construction match the city and “generate a destination, a city, and most important of all a historical center,” says Mr. Borrella.

With experience in historical city restoration in other world capitals, including Madrid and Barcelona, BD Promotores wanted to highlight the historical center of Bogotá. The project was handed over to Alonso Balaguer y Arquitectos Asociados for its development, which resulted in the 240-meter skyscraper that now has the full support of Bogotá and its citizens.

We are facing many years of bonanza in Colombia. This country stands out from others in the region. Emilio Borrella, General Director of BD Promotores Colombia

The vision now is to reinvent the city of Bogotá and contribute to Colombia’s CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, South Africa) status, and prepare it to become a major global economic player for the next decade. It is expected to serve as an engine of development for a reborn downtown Bogotá.BD Promotores chose Colombia as its destination for Latin American projects not just because of the prosperous times the country is going through, but also because of its location. Mr. Borrella sees it as “strategically best-located for the real estate business.”

The architectural design includes two main towers, one of which will become Colombia’s tallest, and a total construction area of 114,384 square meters. The hotel will be operated by Eurostars Hotels, part of the Hotusa Group, marking the arrival in Colombia of this international chain, which is already present in Argentina, Peru and Mexico. The five-star hotel will have 323 rooms, a large convention center, a world-class spa, and two types of restaurant.

All inclusive

BD Bacatá will unquestionably be an all-inclusive destination for Colombians and foreigners alike, and will mark a new concept for competitive cosmopolitan development.

This concept has been thought of as something that will add to the city and not isolate people from it. “We intend to create a pleasant life inside this complex without trying to make an island inside the city; on the contrary, the building must be open to the city and has to modify the entire downtown,” says Mr. Borrella.

And though some may have feared that local involvement would be beyond the reach of many, Mr. Borrella suggests the contrary. “Any average Colombian can purchase a small part of BD Bacatá, a building I hope that will become an emblem in the next 20 years,” he says. In early 2010, the sale of trust rights was initiated and received a positively overwhelming response from buyers.

While there is a large diaspora of Colombians living in the U.S., mainly in New York and Miami, which is quite active in the real estate business in Bogotá, Mr. Borrella states that “370 out of the 396 residences of the project may have been sold already to an entirely local market.”

Unlike other shopping centers in Bogotá and other cities around the country, in which lots are usually sold as shop premises, BD Bacatá will have an exclusive management team leading the shopping center itself – “so there will be the chance to acquire more or less meters, to change brands… which cannot happen when certain people own each shop as private property,” says Mr. Borrella. “We decided to create another trust to be able to sell the shopping center trust rights in pieces, to rent premises, and to have central management.”

The company has faith that BD Bacatá will contribute to the continued boom in Colombia. “It is very different from Ecuador, Peru and Brazil because Colombia is going through different times… but right now Colombia is beginning a new era,” says Mr. Borrella.