The federal government’s plan to build a luxury real estate development on a former military base in Santa Fe, Mexico City, was cancelled by the president today.

During his daily press conference, Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the land will become a park rather than luxury department buildings. He said a few apartments will be built on the western Mexico City site to serve as housing for National Defense personnel.

Most of the grounds of the former military base will be parkland, forming a fourth section of the Chapultepec park, the president said. “The land will no longer be sold, there will no real estate development, the environment will be given priority.”

The new park will be managed by the city government “for the enjoyment of the people of Santa Fe,” López Obrador said, remarking that the building that housed a military weapons factory, erected in the 1800s, will be preserved due to its historic value.

The plan to develop the former military base first emerged during the previous federal administration, when it was expected that the 125-hectare site could sell for as much as US $1 billion. But the Enrique Peña Nieto government dropped the plan last July.

The López Obrador government announced it would build luxury apartment buildings on the site, whose sale would finance the federal government’s new national guard.

Source: Milenio (sp)