“Anyone who ventures into this space is going to have to spend a lot of money.”

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya/José Lassa, Havana, 5 June 2025 — Where a building once stood, now only an empty lot facing the sea remains. The land at the corner of Perseverancia and Malecón streets in Central Havana is part of the public bidding process open in the Cuban capital seeking a private entrepreneur to convert it into a cafe, a restaurant, a craft stand, or a vehicle repair shop.
The task of attracting the private sector is beyond complicated, given the current state of these plots and buildings, since most of them are empty and dilapidated. The plot on Perseverancia Street is simply a vacant lot, where, in the past, stood one of those many buildings on the Havana coastline that eventually collapsed after decades of salt damage and neglect. Later, a small park replaced the brick mass, and finally, the perimeter became a makeshift garbage dump and a place for graffiti.

The Heritage Management Company, part of the City Historian’s Office, included the esplanade among the six locations available for lease until June 30th. The list also includes a plot in the city’s historic center and a stand in the former Almacenes San José. The activities that can be carried out at these sites range from gastronomy and retail to recreation and cultural events.
But paper is one thing, reality is another. One of the other plots being sought by a private developer is at the corner of Malecón and Crespo Streets, where, unlike its neighbor on Perseverancia Street, hasn’t even had all the rubble removed from the building that collapsed years ago. When it fell down, a man was seriously injured and it left images that starkly portrayed Havana’s ruins.
Neighbors still remember the dust that arose when the walls of the building, now uninhabited and undergoing demolition, collapsed. After clearing away the largest pieces of the wreckage, the authorities placed a metal fence around it to prevent the property from becoming a landfill or public restroom. The area, which looks like it’s located in a city in the midst of war, is one of those now being put up for bid.

“Any private individual who gets involved in this is going to have to spend a lot of money to clean up that land,” says a resident of the nearby Lealtad Street, which has seen both the splendor and the ruin of Havana’s shoreline. “The State can’t get this ready to set up a business, since it doesn’t have the money, but it doesn’t make much sense for an individual because of the high costs of remediating it,” he explains to 14ymedio.
Crespo’s lot is large because it extends to the neighboring San Lázaro Street, where the adjacent building also collapsed years ago. An area is one that continue reading

The scene is repeated, more or less unchanged, on the plots at the corner of Malecón and Escobar and also on the one located on Avenida del Litoral and Calle Genios. Spaces without any construction, empty squares, lots where families once leaned out on their balconies, children ran down the stairs, and the elderly enjoyed the sea breeze sitting on their doorsteps, but where, in a second, everything collapsed, giving way to yet another gaping hole in the smile of the Havana coast. A mouth that’s increasingly toothless.
Also competing in disrepair, the space located on Aguacate and O’Reilly Streets in Old Havana seems light years away from being able to accommodate a business. Two royal palm trees vigorously resist the land, which, despite the fence surrounding it, has become a dumping ground that passersby avoid and “the divers” dig through. “This could be “the land of plenty”, but you’d need a lot of money to improve it”, considers a resident of one of the buildings nearby.
Located in the heart of Havana’s tourist scene, a few years ago, When the winds of economic and democratic openness gave Cubans hope, “this would have had a lot of eyes on it”, the Havana native ventures. But now, it’s hard to believe anyone could be interested in it “getting stuck in a project like this, to make something out of nothing.” The recently announced tenders seem like an attempt to revive spaces in clear decline.

The state-owned monopoly Cupet hasn’t been left behind either, and it has published an advertisement seeking to lease the auto repair shop located at the corner of Justicia and Municipio streets in Luyanó, Diez de Octubre, to a private party. Interested parties can apply until June 11 to “use the shop area, as well as its equipment.” But according to the shop’s employees, the entrepreneurs who have come to inspect the premises’ infrastructure have not been very satisfied. “The roof is a light covering, the equipment is very worn, and a lot of money would have to be invested to get this up and running,” one of the remaining state workers at the site, which currently barely provides any service, told this newspaper. “All the supplies needed to repair and do the bodywork on cars are expensive, many in foreign currency,” he explains. “An investor who wants to incur this headache will have to be very patient and have lots of bucks.”
Meanwhile, on the list of offers from the Historian’s Office, the one with the best conditions is the option to obtain a stand at the Antiguos Almacenes San José Cultural Center, near the Bay of Havana. The market, where artisans sell seed necklaces or paintings with the facade of the Bodeguita del Medio, has also suffered the migratory exodus and there are numerous empty spaces. With a roof, solid walls, and a yellow-painted facade, it is the crown jewel among so many ruins up for bid.
Translated by Norma Whiting
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