The Catalinas Warehouses and Pier Company Ltd. Francisco Seeber, a
German Argentine businessman and legislator, created The Catalinas Warehouses and Pier Company, Ltd. in 1872 for the purpose of building a
pier (near Paraguay Street), a wharf, and an office building. The acquired lands were east of the Paseo de Julio (now
Leandro Alem Avenue). The area was known as the "Catalinas Incline", and was so named for the Church of Santa Catalina of Sienna (still standing on the corner of Viamonte and San Martín streets). This church also served as the namesake for Seeber's new firm. With the purchase of more land in the quarter of
La Boca, the Retiro lot was named
Catalinas Norte (North Catalinas), and the La Boca lot,
Catalinas Sur. These docks became the northern and southern points of entry into
Puerto Madero upon its inaugural in 1897. Catalinas Norte was later chosen as the site for the
Hotel de Inmigrantes, a facility built to temporarily house the over 100,000 annual
immigrant arrivals, and completed in 1911. Following the construction of the modern
Port of Buenos Aires from 1911 to 1925, both Catalinas docks fell into disuse, and October 31, 1945, the Catalinas Warehouses properties were sold to Yatahí, S.A. A lot facing
Córdoba Avenue was, in turn, resold in 1949 to a
State enterprise created during the administration of
Juan Perón: Atlas, S.A. This entity built the
Alas Building, and an adjacent lot was used to build the
Peronist ALEA publishing house (redeveloped as
Microsoft's South American headquarters in 2000). The bulk of the land, totaling 39,110 m2 (429,000 ft2), north of these buildings continued vacant for decades. A further 24,200 m2 (260,000 ft3) were owned by
Otto Bemberg and Company, which opened the Retiro Park (an
amusement park) there in 1939; the rest was later mostly used as
parking lots.
Sale of last remaining lots The complex, which by 2004 included 15 buildings totalling over 540,000 m2 (5.8 million ft2), was in the news during 2009 and 2010, when Mayor
Mauricio Macri obtained the City Legislature's approval to sell the remaining three undeveloped lots. The combined land is zoned to house up to 120,000 m² (1.3 million ft²) of new office space, and the city sanctioned the future construction of high rises of up to 50 stories, and 150 m (492 ft) in height (slightly more than the tallest building currently in Catalinas). The third and last lot was sold on November 18, 2010, to
Banco Macro. The other lots had been sold to IRSA and Consultatio earlier in the year, and the combined sales netted 386 million
Argentine pesos (us$99 million), or us$6,866 per m² (us$639 per ft²). Projects approved for these lots during 2011 include the Macro Tower, a headquarters designed by
César Pelli; the Consultatio Tower by Beccar Varela & Associates; and the 29-story IRSA headquarters, designed by Miguel Baudizzone and Jorge Lestard. One last potential zone for future development, a 5,694 m2 (613,000 ft2) property alongside the
Alas Building, remains in use as a parking lot. ==Overview==