Paseo Estación Central Shopping Center

When I arrived in Maracay, in the mid seventies, there was a structure that always caught my attention, it was a gray building, of medium height, with closed windows that made it impossible to see inside, and a deafening noise caused by numerous extractors installed near the windows.

Soon after, I found out that it was "Telares de Maracay", one of the emblematic factories of the city. At that time there was a large textile production in Venezuela that not only satisfied the national demand for fabrics, but also produced for export.

The factory had begun operations since 1926 during the government of Juan Vicente Gómez. By that time Gómez had made Maracay his favorite city, resided there for many years, and even named it the capital of Venezuela.

At the time of its construction, the looms building was imposing, it occupied a large area and stood out remarkably in a city of low houses, for many years it was the tallest building in the city.

In the fifties Telares de Maracay was bought by another industrial group and until the beginning of the XXI century it was a very productive company.

But the economic and political changes experienced during the Bolivarian revolution made the company lose its attractiveness, problems related to the exchange control, the devaluation of the currency and inflation led the owners to make the decision to move the textile production out of the country, and the time came when that great company was totally paralyzed.

For several years the building was abandoned, nobody knew what would happen to that structure that was an icon of the city. There was the fear that it would be demolished to build a residential complex in its place.

One day they began to recover the structure but it was not clear what use it would be given, the work was done from the inside out, the gray facade remained the same, hiding what was going on inside.

By the year 2013 the first advertisements appeared announcing the creation of a new shopping center, there were doubts about the success of that company, they were years where the economy had many problems, but over time the new shopping center became a success.

In 2014 the "Centro Comercial Paseo Estación Central" opened its doors in the former premises occupied by the "Telares de Maracay" factory.

The architects did a really wonderful job, they managed to integrate a very modern concept while preserving almost entirely the old facades of the factory.

The main structure is a two-story building with long corridors lined with shops of different sizes. The commercial offer is varied, with a strong presence of technology items; computer, video surveillance and cell phone items are readily available.

In the upper part there is a large terrace with indoor and outdoor environments, where the food fair is installed and the space is also used for holding events, occasionally exhibitions and corporate and cultural talks are mounted.

In the old facade the original concept was preserved by changing concrete sections for glass windows, so that in some rooms the lighting is mixed, natural light and neon. The large water tank that was used for factory production was also preserved.

The shopping center has a good location, its main entrance is located right in front of one of the main avenues of the city, Constitution Avenue; in that same place was in the twenties one of the train stations, hence the name "Central Station".

Unlike other shopping centers that are mainly designed to be visited on foot, here there is ample parking, which is a great attraction in an area of the city where it is very difficult to find a place to park your car.

There are many people. Including me, who take advantage of the excellent location of this parking lot to leave our vehicles there while we shop at other nearby downtown stores.

The place is very nice, comfortable and attractive, every time I go downtown I go there and if I need anything computer related I will almost certainly find it there.

If you come through the city try to approach this magnificent shopping center, a good example of how different architectural concepts can be integrated in the same space.

Thanks for your time.

Photos of my property taken with Xiaomi 9.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version).

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The photos, the digital edition and the Gifs are of my authorship.

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