The United States has begun the process of building a US $130-million consulate in Mérida, Yucatán.

The U.S. Department of State began a selection process on January 18 to find a construction company to build the multi-building complex on a three-hectare site in the Vía Montejo development.

Located in the north of the Yucatán capital, the development is already home to the new Harbor Mérida shopping center.

The Department of State said in a statement that Miller Hull Partnership of Seattle, Washington, had been selected as the design architect for the project.

The consulate will have a 5,250-square-meter office building with space for 63 employees as well as auxiliary buildings, a warehouse and a parking lot, the newspaper Reforma reported.

The United States government is also investing US $943 million to build a new embassy in the Nuevo Polanco district of Mexico City. The project is being built by Alabama company Caddell Construction and is expected to open in 2022.

In addition, new U.S. consulates will be built in the border city of Nogales, Sonora, in that state’s capital, Hermosillo, and in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The combined cost of the three projects is US $520 million.

BL Harbert International, a construction company based in Birmingham, Alabama, was awarded the contracts to build all three consulates.

Although it is investing heavily in infrastructure in Mexico, the United States doesn’t currently have an ambassador in the country.

The position has been vacant since Roberta Jacobson resigned and left the post last May.

Source: Reforma (sp) 

CORRECTION: The original photo that accompanied this story — which depicted the new U.S. embassy in London, England — has been replaced with the right one, thanks to a notification by an alert reader.