La Milla de Oro (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

for ''the golden mile'') is both the popular name given to the main central business district of San Juan and a nickname given to the section of Juan Ponce de León Avenue that crosses

Hato Rey Norte Hato Rey Norte is one of the 18 barrios of the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Hato Rey Norte was part of the former municipality of Rio Piedras, before it was merged with the municipality of San Juan in 1951. It is bounded by Hato Rey ...

from north to south. It encompasses the largest agglomeration of corporate investment, banking and finance institutions in the Caribbean. The headquarters of Puerto Rico's largest retail investment bank,

Popular, Inc. Popular, Inc., doing business as Banco Popular in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and as Popular Bank in the mainland United States, is a financial services conglomerate that has operated in Puerto Rico for over 125 years and in the mainland ...

, are located at ''Popular Center'' in ''208 Juan Ponce de León Ave''. La Milla de Oro is served by the

Tren Urbano The ''Tren Urbano'' (English: Urban Train) is a fully-automated rapid transit system that serves the municipalities of San Juan, Guaynabo, and Bayamón, in Puerto Rico. The Tren Urbano consists of 16 stations operating on of track along a ...

stations of

Hato Rey Hato Rey is a former barrio located in the northwest part of the dissolved municipality of Río Piedras. It now stretches over three barrios, of the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico: Urban landscape Its name means "king's cattle farm" (' ...

Roosevelt Roosevelt may refer to: *Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president Businesses and organisations * Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation) * Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank * Rooseve ...

, Domenech and

Piñero ''Piñero'' is a 2001 American biopic about the troubled life of Nuyorican poet and playwright Miguel Piñero, starring Benjamin Bratt as the title character. It was written and directed by the Cuban filmmaker, Leon Ichaso, premiered at the ...

stations in addition to numerous

bus routes A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

with connections to

Río Piedras Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

Plaza Las Américas Plaza Las Américas is a shopping mall in Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico, located at the intersection of Routes 18 and 22. "''Plaza''", as it is known to many Puerto Ricans, was the first indoor shopping mall built in Puerto Rico. It is the ...

, Santurce and

Old San Juan Old San Juan ( es, Viejo San Juan) is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the islet of San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Catedral, Marina, Mercado, San Cristóbal, and San Francisco sub-barrios (s ...

List of buildings at La Milla de Oro

headquarters (3 buildings) * AFI Plaza (

Seaborne Airlines Seaborne Virgin Island Inc, operating as Seaborne Airlines, is a FAR Part 121 airline headquartered in Carolina, Puerto Rico, near the territory's capital of San Juan. It operates a seaplane shuttle service between St. Croix and St. Thomas. ...

Plaza) (formerly Westernbank World Plaza, the

Banco de Ponce Banco de Ponce was the Puerto Rican bank with the largest number of branches in the United States and second largest bank in deposits and number of branches in Puerto Rico during the twentieth century. Founded in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the e ...

headquarters); acquired by Banco Popular de Puerto Rico after an FDIC closure of several banks on the Island in 2010. * Kevane Grant Thornton Building (formerly known as Bolivia 33) * The Hato Rey Center (formerly known as Home Mortgage Plaza) *

Banco Santander Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centr ...

building * Plaza 273 (formerly known as Plaza Scotiabank) * Plaza 221 (formerly known as Banco Economias, Banco Central Hispano and then

) *

American International Group American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

(AIG) building * MCS Plaza (Formerly Pan-Am Plaza) * Puerto Rico Comptroller’s Office building * City of San Juan government tower * AON Center * City Towers (formerly known as Citibank Tower) * Centrum Plaza * Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources (Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos) building *

José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum The Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot (English: ''José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum of Puerto Rico'') is the biggest indoor arena in Puerto Rico dedicated to entertainment. It is located at the Golden Mile of San Juan, the island capital ...

(Coliseo de Puerto Rico) * OFG Bancorp Center (formerly

Chase Manhattan Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fi ...

Plaza and

BBVA Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...

Plaza) * Tren Urbano Hato Rey station * Tren Urbano Roosevelt station * Aquablue at the Golden Mile * Quantum Metrocenter, designed b
SCF Arquitectos
and built in 2012 * Uruguay 269 (under construction) * Coliseum Tower (completed) * Metropolis (under construction) * Infinity (under Construction) * Torre Mayo

* Instituto Socio Economico Comunitario (www.insec.org) * Fine Arts Cafe (an upscale Repertory Theatre owned by

Caribbean Cinemas Caribbean Cinemas is a chain of movie theaters in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. It is the only major chain in Puerto Rico following CineVista's bankruptcy. The chain has expanded into Dominican Republic, Panama, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. M ...

) *

Fi Sigma Alfa Phi Sigma Alpha (), commonly known as La Sigma, is a Puerto Rican fraternities and sororities, Puerto Rican fraternity originally established as the Sigma Delta Alpha Fraternity (Sociedad de Amigos) on October 22, 1928, at the University of Puert ...

Fraternity Club House (Restaurant and activities hall)

Plans

Milla de Oro has received criticism from nearby communities for its lonely and dark environment after work hours. In order to foster tourism and economic growth in the area, the government has planned to convert the district into a more community friendly sector by attracting tourists, visitors, and local residents to the district during after hours through concerts, retail shops, and nightspots. The first phase of this conversion was to locate the

and several

metro system stations in the district. Banco Popular recently inaugurated a new project near its headquarters called ''Arts Cinemas at Popular Cente''r for exhibiting foreign and independent films and a deli-café. New residential apartments and a 31-story high commercial complex near the Coliseum are being developed in the area as well.

Milla de Oro in popular culture

The ''Milla de Oro'' was heavily featured in the Calle 13 2010 musical video for "Calma Pueblo". The song features lead singer, Residente, singing on top of a building while businessmen and random people run around the Milla de Oro, eventually getting naked. The ''Milla de Oro'' was also featured in the film ''

Fast Five ''Fast Five'' (also known as ''Fast & Furious 5'' or ''Fast & Furious 5: Rio Heist'') is a 2011 American action film directed by Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to ''Fast & Furious'' (2009) and the fifth i ...

'' during one of the heists.

References

{{reflist Financial districts Districts of San Juan, Puerto Rico Central business districts in the United States Economy of Puerto Rico