Torre del Caballito
Encyclopedia
Torre del Caballito is a skyscraper located on the Paseo de la Reforma #10 at the Cuauhtemoc
Cuauhtémoc, D.F.
Cuauhtémoc, named after the former Aztec leader, is one of the 16 boroughs of the Federal district of Mexico City. It consists of the oldest parts of the city, extending over what was the entire city in the 1920s. This area is the historic and culture center of the city, although it is not the...

 delegation in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

. It was designed by Grupo Posadas de Mexico. It is 135 metres (443 feet) and 35 storeys tall. 33 of the floors are used as office space which measures 60,000 square meters. It also has 15 underground parking levels. The building's total area is 131,000 square meters.

The building houses the offices of MPs and senators. Torre Prisma, Edificio El Moro, the Melia Mexico Reforma Hotel, and the Fuente de la Republica are located nearby.

The building is equipped with 20 high-speed elevators which move at 6.3 meters per second.

In 1978 construction began with an ambitious project of a hotel which would have stood 220 metres 60 floors tall and have 700 rooms. It would be owned by the Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...

 chain. Due to Mexico's unstable political and economic conditions, construction was stopped several times. The works resumed in 1984 with the central concrete structure reaching 40 meters high. The metallic-structure assembly began but all works stopped again for a year. Works were delayed further when the main crane and some concrete elements were partially destroyed by the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake
1985 Mexico City earthquake
The 1985 Mexico City earthquake, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake that struck Mexico City on the early morning of 19 September 1985 at around 7:19 AM , caused the deaths of at least 10,000 people and serious damage to the greater Mexico City Area. The complete seismic event...

. The damaged crane was moved away and the hotel project was cancelled altogether. In 1987, the damaged concrete and steel components were repaired and the height was shortened to 134 metres and by the end of 1988 construction was completed at last with a black mirror facade covering the structure.

Due to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

's high propensity to earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

s, the tower incorporates several anti-earthquake measures such as the inclusion of 70 seismic shocks. It is anchored to the ground with 185 concrete piles which penetrate 60 meters surpassing the old swampy landfill lake below Mexico City.

The tower could support other 25 floors if needed, though it is not planned to do so.

The building is currently owned by Fibra Mexicana de Inmuebles (FIBRAMEX).
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