Hopes, Dreams, and Opportunities

Scattered around the island, projects unfinished, left to crumble and rot – they each have their own story of hopes and dreams.  Many have become shattered dreams; lost through economic turmoil, under-financed plans, or problems with permits, and regulations.  But - there could be opportunities for someone: someone with a vision, someone with a healthy bank account. 

For us, the most visible abandoned project is the Unik Hotel (unique).  It is situated on the main road on the south-western side of the island.  That’s the property I for a few years jokingly referred to as my future employer, with imaginary plans to be the general manager.  Eventually, I realized the hotel was not going to be finished anytime in my working lifetime, so darn it all, I just had to retire.

 

Unik Hotel 75 luxury suites with personal butler

The Unik Hotel was originally designed as seventy-five luxury suites, each with a personal butler.  And then the worldwide financial crisis of 2008 happened, and that dream went up in smoke.  Inside are five hydraulic elevators still in their crates, waiting to be installed.  A local businessman has in his storage facility the large screen televisions purchased for the hotel in 2008.  The televisions are a little rusty and corroded after five years of sitting, but the creditors won’t make the decision to toss them out.  From the water, the property looks amazing.  It would be such an asset to the island if the hotel is eventually completed.  

Updated: opened as Impression Isla Mujeres by Secrets in 2023.

Unfinished condo project on Playa Media Luna

Another unfinished and very visible project is on Playa Media Luna, the northeastern area of the island.  This project progressed as far as opening the display suite, and selling a few condos before the finances bottomed out.  The location is stunning, facing a crescent-shaped beach, and the multi-hued waters.  This beach is a favourite place for sea turtles to lay eggs and a great spot to watch the release of thousands of baby turtles in September and October.  

Pretty home for pigeons

But the one that intrigues me the most is the blue and yellow-hued Moroccan-influenced building that sits across from Oscar’s Pizza on the western side of the island.  On our first trip to Isla in 2002 the colours and design of the building caught my eye.  Designed to be an apartment complex its current occupants are hundreds of pigeons nesting inside the domed structure; cooing, and courting.  Every year the paint fades a little more, not catching my eye as readily as it once did.  The complex was started by a local man who had done well in the Mexican lottery.  Perhaps lottery-mania caught up to this dream. 

There is always hope, hope that some or all of these projects will be finished.  Sometimes one person’s difficulties can be another person’s opportunity.

Hasta Luego          

(Originally published August 2nd 2013)