The World Trade Center Mexico City, commonly known by its former name, Hotel de México, is a building complex located in the wealthy neighborhood of

Colonia Nápoles Colonia Nápoles is a colonia, is an officially recognized neighborhood in Benito Juárez borough, Mexico City, and one of the iconic Mid-Century neighborhoods of Mexico City along with Colonia Del Valle. Location It is bordered by: * Viaducto ...

in central

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. Its most famous and recognizable feature is the 50-story, high Torre WTC, the biggest building in the local area. It is the third tallest building in Mexico City when including antenna and the fourth largest to its roof height. The complex includes a convention center, cultural center, parking facilities, a multi-screen cinema, a revolving 45th-floor luxury restaurant, and a shopping center with

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

(originally opened as a

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

, the first location outside of the USA) as an anchor tenant. It will also include a 22-floor hotel, which is currently under construction. Located on

Avenida de los Insurgentes Avenida de los Insurgentes ( en, Avenue of the Insurgents), sometimes known simply as Insurgentes, is the longest avenue in Mexico City, with a length of on a north-south axis across the city. Insurgentes has its origins in what was during the ...

, the complex is served by the Polyforum station of the Metrobús

Bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

system, located a few meters away. The station is named after the

Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros The Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros is a cultural, political and social facility located in Mexico City as part of the World Trade Center Mexico City. It was designed and decorated by David Alfaro Siqueiros in the 1960s and hosts the largest mural w ...

, a part of the WTC complex.

History

The WTC México began its existence as the Hotel de México, a building and complex that did not perform as intended. Construction of the Hotel de México was in a lot called "Parque de La Lama" located in the Napoles neighborhood (''Spanish: Colonia Nápoles''). The lot was set aside by real estate businessperson, José Jerónimo de La Lama in 1947. However, by 1966, when the project started, the owner and financial sponsor was

Manuel Suárez y Suárez Manuel Suárez y Suárez (23 March 1896 – 23 July 1987) was a Spanish immigrant to Mexico who became a successful entrepreneur and patron of the arts. He is known for the Casino de la Selva in Cuernavaca, the Hotel de México, and the adjacent Po ...

. The Hotel de México project included a hotel building as well as a cultural center housing the

and several other facilities aimed at making the complex a hub for business, culture, tourism, and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

. Plans for the complex were presented at the 13th international architecture contest in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Planned to be ready for the 1968 Olympics, the project overran and exceeded its budget. Although the main tower was completed in 1972, it did not function as a hotel, due to political and economic reasons. The tower as well as the rest of the complex was left in an unfinished state, aside from the Polyforum. In the mid-1980s, a project was started to turn the Hotel de México complex into an international business center. Mr. Suárez backed the idea and although he died in 1988, the remodeling began with partial public funding in 1992. In 1995, the complex, now known as World Trade Center México, opened its doors with the tower functioning as an office building and convention center. Floors 40 and 41 housed TV studios for Corporación de Noticias e Información, which operated XHTVM Canal 40. On May 19, 2005, these floors were evacuated after the beginning of a strike at CNI. The facilities have remained untouched since, due to the legal cases that have followed CNI since 2005. The WTC also houses the transmission facilities for

XHFO-FM XHFO-FM is a radio station on 92.1 MHz in Mexico City. The station is owned by Grupo Siete and carries the Radio Disney pop format. History XHFO received its initial concession on November 26, 1964. It was owned by Raymundo Romero Damian. XHF ...

. Most recently, the World Trade Center added a second theater: the 7,500-seat Pepsi Center WTC, which was completed in 2012. It is used primarily for concerts and

stage show A theatrical production is any work of theatre, such as a staged play, musical, comedy or drama produced from a written book or script. Theatrical productions also extend to other performance designations such as Dramatic and Nondramatic theatre, a ...

Functions

WTC Tower has a seismic detector that monitors land movements to stop elevators during earthquakes. It is considered an intelligent building due to its intelligent light system. The tower is managed by a system that controls the facilities and equipment. This includes the electrics, mechanical ventilation, sanitation, elevators and fire protection.

External links

CIEC WTC Official Website

Pepsi Center WTC Official Website

Nuevo Portal Torre WTC

References

{{Authority control Skyscraper office buildings in Mexico City

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Benito Juárez, Mexico City Buildings and structures with revolving restaurants Office buildings completed in 1972 Towers completed in 1972 1970s in Mexico City 20th-century architecture in Mexico Convention centers in Mexico Music venues in Mexico Theatres in Mexico City

History

Functions

See also

External links

References