Almost seven years after Guadalajara hosted the 16th Pan American Games, the “village” built to house athletes of many nations on the outskirts of the city lies abandoned, with scant maintenance and a bleak future.
The fortunes of the 160,000-square-meter complex could change in an instant, however, if president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is enthused by a proposal announced this week by Zapopan Mayor Pablo Lemus to convert the site into the new headquarters of the federal agency charged with the promotion of scientific and technological activities.
Lemus has already sent a letter to Lopez Obrador outlining his idea to move the offices of Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (National Council of Science and Technology or CONACYT) from the capital to the former athletes’ village, a move he says will “generate a true city of knowledge and innovation” and compliment the region’s status as a prestigious technology hub – Mexico’s “Silicon Valley,” as some like to call it.
The plan surfaced during the recent Campus Party technology gathering held at Expo Guadalajara, when teams were invited to come up with ideas for the future use of the abandoned athletes’ village. The former director of CONACYT had already talked in a private conversation about the possibility of moving the agency’s headquarters to a provincial location, Lemus explained.
Lemus acknowledged that the site has been plagued by legal issues since the games ended in October 2011 and that these would have to follow their course, and hold to account officials or developers who committed misdemeanors during the planning and construction phase.
Having spent 1.4 billion pesos on building the village beside the Omnilife Stadium on the metro area’s western limits, the state government intended to sell the complex as luxury apartments. More than 5,000 athletes, coaches and officials from 31 nations were housed there comfortably in modern apartments during the three-week sporting event.
However, the site’s proximity to the protected Bosque Primavera, provoked the ire of environmentalists and nearby residents. During the games, the village’s water treatment plant malfunctioned, causing thousands of liters of sewage to spill out and contaminate the surrounding area.
Nearby residents associations, including upmarket Rancho Contento, argue that aside from the environmental concerns, the “irregularities” that surrounded the construction and financing of the village run so deep that the only viable solution is to demolish the complex.
All attempts to convince neighbors that the village could serve a useful purpose have been rejected. In 2015, the Instituto Jalisciense del Adulto Mayor announced a plan for a Spanish company to convert the apartments into a village for “senior citizens.” That idea never caught on, with Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval announcing that the complex could never have a future as a high-density residential facility.
Founded in 1970, CONACYT is a decentralized public agency that sets the federal government’s scientific and technological policies, administers programs and research and grants scholarships for postgraduate studies. It is the equivalent of the National Science Foundation in the United States.