Closed buildings of recent history and stopped works are deteriorating in valued areas of Rio; to understand

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When unoccupied, some of these spaces were targets for invasions. At Usina, rue Conde de Bonfim, where a Carrefour operated, the town hall had to carry out an operation in January of this year to evacuate more than a hundred people who occupied the place, also used for waste disposal. Built in 1997, the property has graffiti, broken walls and areas covered in forest. The private sector, the State and the municipality have already announced projects which have never come to fruition. For neighbors, the hope now is to establish a Minha Casa, Minha Vida, initially made up of ten five-story buildings and about 500 two-bedroom apartments.

A deed of intention to buy and sell the land, measuring three thousand square meters, was signed by the construction company Direcional Engenharia, which has already submitted an application for a building permit to the town hall, said councilor Pedro Duarte (no party). Without citing figures, the company’s director of incorporation, Ivan Bettencourt, confirms the negotiation and hopes to approve the project in 2026, to deliver it in 2029.

— Let’s take care of the leisure area. It will be Barra da Tijuca style, with full leisure facilities, including a swimming pool. Studies are underway. In Tijuca, condominiums have small leisure areas, due to lack of space — explains the executive.

Promises also hover over another white elephant in Rio, the future headquarters of the Central Bank, in the port area. Announced 15 years ago, the works were one of the first in the process of revitalizing Porto Maravilha. It stopped, started, stopped again and has consumed 87.5 million reais so far. He became a skeleton that conflicts with a storyline that, at the time, included the Yup Star Ferris Wheel, the AquaRio, and other equipment.

The idea was that 350 employees would work in the building, which would include cultural space and areas for banks, restaurants, classrooms and a 400-seat auditorium. The BC, however, alleges budgetary unavailability to follow the planning: the contract with the construction company was suspended in December 2019.

The bank specifies, however, that since 2022 it has entered into agreements with the Navy so that the army covers the costs of completing the building. Under the agreement, 72% of the building would remain Navy property. The rest would be occupied by the bank’s Circulating Media Department, which did not specify the amount needed to carry out the interventions. Currently, the donation of the property is being analyzed by the Federal Heritage Secretariat.

“The Brazilian Navy seeks to concentrate its military organizations, focused on serving the external public and currently distributed in the center of Rio de Janeiro, in a single location, with the aim of reducing costs and optimizing personnel management. The Central Bank of Brazil, in turn, maintains the need to have a modern and secure vault to circulate activities in this city”, indicates the BC in a note.

At the Lapa container hotel on Rua do Lavradio, the uncertainty seems even greater. One of the three architects from Estúdio Guanabara who designed the establishment, André Daemon declares that it has been a long time since he had contact with the contractors of a foreign group who commissioned the work, which began in 2013 and was interrupted in 2017:

— About two years ago, they seemed interested in taking over the project. They were looking for a partner. But apparently it didn’t go any further.

Nearby, also in Lapa, a Rio classic from the 1980s and 1990s is another “sleeper”. The Asa Branca nightclub, on Rua Mem de Sá, was inaugurated in 1983, with a dinner for the kings of Spain, Juan Carlos and Sofia, and a show by Luiz Gonzaga. It was a luxury gafieira with its own orchestra, 200 tables and boxes. In the 2010s, however, the mansion said goodbye to Rio’s nightlife. And for now, the Recarey family, which owns the property, isn’t sure what they’ll do with the space.

— Violence remains very high there — explains Chico Recarey Filho.

In the busy addresses of the South Zone, there are at least ideas for recovery. In the former Ipanema Plaza Hotel, inactive since 2017, on Rua Farme de Amoedo, a hotel belonging to a global LGBTQIA+ luxury travel company should be installed. And in Mirante do Pasmado, in Botafogo, former councilor Teresa Bergher guarantees that the Memorial Museum to the Victims of the Holocaust has been closed since December 2024, only for works and that the reopening is planned for the next Women’s Day, March 8. The space was handed over to the public in January 2023, to tell, with immersive experiences, the daily life of Jews before, during and after the horrors of the Second World War. But, for months, we can no longer even climb the stairs to reach the 20 meter high obelisk built there shortly before, in 2020.

— In fact, a year of adaptation work is a lot. Nothing justifies it. But I am not responsible for this work. What I want is for the museum to work and to be plural — says Teresa, honorary president of the Holocaust Memorial Cultural Association, denying the lack of private funds for the services necessary for reopening.