Ponce Servicios
Coordinates: 18°0′56.952″N 66°36′43.632″W / 18.01582000°N 66.61212000°W
| Ponce Servicios | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Status | In Service - In Use |
| Type |
Originally, marketplace; Today, offices |
| Architectural style | Modern |
| Location | Ponce, Puerto Rico |
| Construction started | 1980 |
| Completed | 1981 |
| Opening | 1981 |
| Cost |
$10,000,000 ($25.7 million in 2014 dollars[ 1]) |
| Owner | City of Ponce |
| Height | |
| Architectural | 60 ft (18.3 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor area | approx 200,000 sq ft (18,581 m2) |
| Lifts/elevators | 5 |
| Design and construction | |
| Developer | Government of Puerto Rico |
Ponce Servicos is a municipal building located Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is the largest building in the municipality in terms of footprint area and the only one that occupies an entire city block.[1] Its architecture is modern-contemporary. The structure was built in 1981 as a way to provide a modern, air-conditioned, structure to the merchants and shoppers of the historic but aging Plaza de Mercado Isabel Segunda building. On its opening day the building was named the Juan Bigas Plaza del Mercado building, in honor of Juan Bigas Moulins, the Ponce businessman by that name.
In 2007, when the Art Deco Isabel Segunda building was restored and renovated, this building—then called the Juan Bigas building—was vacated but sat unused until 2010 when the Government of Puerto Rico transferred the structure to the Ponce Municipal Government. That year (2010), the Ponce municipal government started plans to recondition the Juan Bigas building. The Ponce Municipal Government reopened the building in October 2013 as a municipal building offering a mix of municipal services and called it "Ponce Servicios" (Ponce Services).
Location
The structure is located at at the grid formed by the Guadalupe, Salud, Estrella and Mayor streets. Its coordinates are N 18.01582 W 66.61212.
History
From 1863 to 1981, the Ponce market ("plaza del mercado") operated at the Isabel Segunda Plaza del Mercado building. Due to deterioration of that structure, a new structure was built to house the market's mercharts. In 1981, and for the next 26 years, the Ponce market operated out of a new building at the grid formed by the Guadalupe, Salud, Estrella and Mayor streets, just two blocks east of the historic Isabel Segunda Plaza del Mercado building. The new building, called the Plaza del Mercado Juan Bigas building, was inaugurated in 1981 to replace the aging, but historic, Plaza del Mercado Isabel II building.[2]
On June 28, 2010, Governor Luis Fortuño signed Senate Resolution 191, transferring ownership of the Plaza del Mercado de Ponce Juan Bigas building to the Ponce Municipal Government.[3] The Juan Bigas building had sat unused since the 2007 when the shopkeepers moved back to the remodeled Isabel II building.
Cost and size
The building cost $10 million to build in 1981. It is the building with the largest footprint in Ponce. Inside of it are some of the ruins of the old Teatro Apolo.[4] (Teatro Apolo was located at the corner of Calle Salud and Calle Guadalupe.[5])
On 7 April 2011, the municipal government announced it would invest $10 million to remodel the Juan Bigas building and turn it into a municipal services center, dubbed "Ponce Servicios", hosting various municipal services offices.[6] The remodeling of the old Juan Bigas building to be used for municipal government services was to occur at a cost of $6.828 million.[7] A 27 July 2011 news report stated work on the Juan Bigas building would commence in October 2011 at an expected cost of $15 million.[8]
A 26 June 2013 news report indicated that renovations had been completed and the first two floors of the facility would reopen by the end of July 2013. The agencies due to occupy the structure were listed as: the Oficina de Permisos (Office of Permits), Ordenación Territorial (Office of Territorial Planning), Vivienda Municipal (Office of Municipal Housing), the Archivo Histórico de Ponce, Office of the Federal Ryan White Program and the Banco Municipal (Municipal Bank). The facility was to be named "Ponce Servicios".[9] The building reopened as "Ponce Servicios" in August 2013.[10]
See also
- La Gran Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico, Vol XIX, "Arquitectura y Leyes", Editorial Rumbo, Madrid. 1976.
- Acevedo Cruz, Joaquin. Conservacion: Area de la Plaza del Mercado de Ponce. Escuela de Arquitectura U.P.R., 1982 (unpublished).
References
- ↑ En el olvido: Así se sienten vecinos de Plaza Juan Bigas. Jason Rodríguez Grafal. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- ↑ Con inyección de $15 millones: Intentan reactivar polo del Ponce Centro. By Jason Rodríguez Grafal. Periodico La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico.
- ↑ Summary of the Week: June 28 to July 4, 2010. By Jason Rodríguez Grafal. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Week of June 28 to July 4, 2010.
- ↑ El cine en Ponce: antes y ahora. Marangeli Estrada. El Sur en la piel. 9 July 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- ↑ 01. DSC02680 - Antiguo Teatro Argel en la Calle Victoria esq. Fogos, Barrio Segundo, Ponce, PR. Tito Caraballo. Flickr. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
- ↑ Aprueban Fondos para Ponce Servicios. 07 April 2011. El Nuevo Dia. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
- ↑ Mayita ofrece su mensaje de logros. El Sur a la Vista. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
- ↑ A punto de caramelo obras en Juan Bigas. Jason Rodríguez Grafal. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 29, Issue 1443. 27 July 2011. Page 10. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
- ↑ A punto la mudanza a Ponce Servicios. Jason Rodríguez Grafal. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 9 June 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- ↑ Alcaldesa de Ponce Inagura Proyecto Emblematico Ponce Servicios. Ronaldo Ortiz Dominicci. Periodico "El Señorial". (A publication of the Ponce Municipal Government.) Issue #10. August 2013. Page 3. Retrieved 4 October 2013.