The urban transformation generated by the construction of the Gastronomic Tourism Corridor on 47th Street in the Historic Center of Mérida has triggered the opening of at least eight new restaurants with Yucatecan, Mexican and foreign investment.
Before the development of the urban project, known as a gastronomic corridor, 15 restaurants operated on 47th Street, which were the pioneers. Today, eight new food establishments are under construction, adaptation and equipment so that they start operations when the gastronomic corridor of the municipal part is ready, which is from 56-A to 48 streets that will join the Gran Parque La Plancha , which will also have restaurants in the old railway carriages.
For the president of the National Chamber of the Restaurant Industry and Condiment Foods in Yucatan, Claudia Yamily González Góngora, this project developed by the Mérida City Council encourages mixed investment on 47th Street and today it is a 100% street with a restaurant vocation.
They are already preparing to start operations from 6 to 8 new food units in this area of Mérida.
The directive foresees a business success for investors because it is fully demonstrated that restaurants restore life and economic dynamism to desolate urban areas. And he gave as an example the first square of the city and the Santa Lucía park that until a few years ago did not attract people, but today they are spaces with a lot of social life and commercial activity.
“This gastronomic corridor on 47th Street is indeed a Canirac issue due to its specific vocation, it has already become a restaurant owner,” she said in an interview during the change of presidency of the Business Coordinating Council.
“In the section of 60th Street, there are hotels, restaurants and shops of various kinds. On the other hand, in the 47 corridor it is a restaurant-type vocation. There are currently 15 restaurants in operation with eight more preparing to open on 47th Street.”
Claudia Yamily González reported that the Mérida City Council presented the architectural project for the gastronomic corridor to Canirac and it was always considered green areas, not a wooded area.
Another important point of the 47th street project is the urban furniture and lighting fixtures, these must be authorized by the INAH, so it complies with the recommendations for heritage conservation.
The president recalled that Canirac ensures that the restaurants in operation on this street face the least inconvenience due to the work.
She pointed out that restaurant owners know that yes there are temporary annoyances, but they will have a future benefit. Therefore, all the restaurants on this street are betting that this new urban infrastructure will increase the commercial value of the corridor, which will translate into a greater influx of customers.
“The 15 restaurants that operate on 47th Street are pioneers of gastronomy in this corridor,” she said. The restaurateurs and Canirac were asking for this type of infrastructure and the political will of the municipal, state and federal governments was combined with the La Plancha park project, this is how this urban project was achieved in this part of Mérida”.
She highlighted that the 15 restaurants that operate on 47th Street are hardly noticeable, but when new business units open, it will undoubtedly become an eminently restaurant street with a wide gastronomic offer in a single sector.
“The restaurant industry has raised from forgotten places such as the Santa Lucía park, the Remate de Montejo , the Santa Ana park and the Plaza Grande,” said the president of the National Chamber of the Restaurant Industry and Seasoned Foods (Canirac) in Yucatán , Claudia Yamily González Góngora.
The leader considered that the gastronomic corridor developed by the Mérida City Council encourages mixed investment in Calle 47 del Centro and today it is a 100% street with a restaurant vocation.
“Today we realize that there is a strong presence of gastronomy in those places that are very crowded. This 47th street corridor will generate a significant number of jobs and will economically revitalize this neighborhood of the Historic Center.”
“It will give it a new social and economic dynamism, not only for the people of Merida and Yucatecans, but also for the people who visit us from other places. Without a doubt, the restaurants will give a new face to this 47th street”.
Investments in the new 47th Street restaurants are mixed, she said. Many projects are from Yucatecan investment, others from national people who came to live in the city and are now venturing into the food industry.
There are even investments by Yucatecan investors with national, and Yucatecans with foreigners.
She did not have an estimate of the amount of investment in these eight new restaurant projects, but she did say that it is large.
In fact, restaurant owners that operate on 47th Street open other establishments due to the commercial and tourist potential of this gastronomic corridor.
“They are already detonating more projects among those who were the pioneers of the restaurants on 47th Street,” she stressed. “Before there was no life on this street. This corridor began to generate organic and natural growth and is reaffirmed with this new urban infrastructure. Without a doubt, the specific vocation of Calle 47 is the restaurant business”.
The president of Canirac said that there are many spaces left on 47th Street that can be converted into restaurants, in the following months it is possible that new projects in the gastronomic field will materialize.
For now, the construction of Calle 47 is nearing completion, with all its planned modifications. This week the City Council must open a section to vehicular traffic on 47th Street.
The next stage will be the removal of the poles and wiring of public lighting and electrical infrastructure (now it will be in underground pits) and then will come the placement of street furniture.
“It is a big project; the important thing is that public investment and private investment that are converge already there. Construction takes months and the authorities have the support of the restaurant industry because it is a benefit for this sector in the future,” she reiterated.
She was asked if the conversion of a gastronomical corridor will generate problems due to noise pollution due to the use of background music in the businesses.
“Regularization of sound is really an issue for the City Council, it is important to remember that you have to find a point where everyone can converge,” answered Claudia Yamily González Góngora.
“Let’s remember how the Historic Center of the first square was before. There was no social or economic life. Life in the Center ended when businesses closed at six in the afternoon or at seven or eight at night when the department stores closed. There were no more people, social and economic life was ending”.
“Who bet to bring this part of the Historic Center back to life? The restaurant industry. The restaurateurs bet on bringing people. Many people saw the first square as a place of passage, to go shopping, but they carried out their social and economic life in other parts of the city”, she pointed out.— JOAQUÍN ORLANDO CHAN CAAMAL
Source: Diario de Yucatan
