9 replies to this topic

[Jaykar]

Long time since my last post here but still alive hehe. Here are some random pictures of San Juan.









Puerto Rico Convention Center






Cruiseship Pier @ Old San Juan

[Jaykar]

[Jaykar]

[Jaykar]

Edited by Jaykar, 26 August 2008 - 04:22 PM.

[Jaykar]

San Juan, PR













Puerto Rico, the shining star of the Caribbean!
The only dark spots remaining in PR are mountain areas, specifically the Cordilla Central mountains and the little dark spot in the middle of the big spot of light is El Yunque National Rainforest.

[Jaykar]

The Hato Rey sector of San Juan is the city's CBD also known as the Golden Mile district. (Entire CBD area)




In this other picture we can see San Juan's skyline but does not includes the CBD area. Notice that San Juan is a city that doesn't have tall skyscrapers (over 350 ft tall). This is going to change in the next years because there are a bunch of 30 to 50-story buildings underway and some of them are already under construction. Still the skyline is a dense one and as you can compare in both pictures San Juan is a city with different skylines.

Condado, Santurce and Miramar sectors of San Juan.

[urbanguy]

^Wow up to 50 stories? Do you know what the tallest in feet are proposed to be? BTW what's driving all the construction going on in PR? Are foreigners the driving force? It seems like most other places are slowing down because of the bad economy but PR seems to be unusually robust in the construction sector.

[Jaykar]

urbanguy, on Dec 22 2008, 02:10 AM, said:

^Wow up to 50 stories? Do you know what the tallest in feet are proposed to be? BTW what's driving all the construction going on in PR? Are foreigners the driving force? It seems like most other places are slowing down because of the bad economy but PR seems to be unusually robust in the construction sector.

Yeah, there are three confirmed buildings: Ocean Walk a mixed use development (residential, offices and hotel) and San Juan Bayside towers (residential). SJ Bayside was supposed to be 37 and 32 stories tall but now both towers are going to be 50-story tall. I don't know the exact height on feet but as soon as I find out I'll let you know. There's a fourth tower supposedly to be 50 stories tall going to the Condado area but there's no info about the tower so I don't count that one. Also there are other towers between 30-40 stories tall  under construction all around the city and a bunch more being proposed (Ashford & Earle, AquaBlue, AquaCity, Q Tower, Central Plaza, Pearle, etc). About the bad economy, well PR is no stranger to the situation, but as you said the construction sector seems to be holding up with the development of new highways, ports, international aiports, malls, hotels and new condo's being build and proposed around the island.

[urbanguy]

Do you know of any other major projects going on in some of the smaller metros in PR like Ponce or Mayaguez?

[Jaykar]

Well as far as I know Ponce is  having upgrades on the airport (handles flights to some cities in the states) and in some of the expressways in the city. Also is continuing with the development and expansion of its port to be upgraded into a megaport.  Five new hotels are being built in the city (a new Marriott, Sheraton, among others) as well a new Convention Center District, like San Juan's but a lil' bit smaller. The district will include the largest aquarium in the Caribbean and a new International Business Center for Southern Puerto Rico.

About Mayaguez, well the city is having a lot of constructions due in part to the celebration of the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games. The government is converting the existing main highway into an expressway,  main roads are being upgraded, new connections between main roads are being build, new sports complexes are underway all over the city as well new housing projects. There's a plan to expand Mayaguez port because now Mayaguez is a port of call for some cruises so the city is receiving directly tourists and a 350 ft Christopher Columbus Statue is going to be built in the city near the port area. A new waterfront in also underway.  The airport that serves western Puerto Rico is now international and its being expanded as well.