Good Luck Blue Mall. I hope you are most successful and that your gensets and bulk fuel tanks are large enough to operate independent of CDEEE electric grid for extended periods of time.

If that is a recent photo of the Mall, I doubt it will be open in Dec. 2009 anytime. Opening is being announced by the spokespersons, but they can't tell you when (not even a month). Just a 3 month window..... ???? Sounds like a Government construction project (DR).

A white elephant coming down the ramp

I think this mall has a good chance as Plaza Lama and Central are both very tired looking, never have many escalators working and parking there is atrocious ..I drove past there and would also be very surprised if it will be open in December. <it does not take long for people to know where is the best place to shop and I have noticed that National and Cuesta in Lincoln seem to be doing much better now , after renovations, than Plaza Lama.Like wise the expanded Ferreteria Americano in Kennedy is always full although they have not yet finished their expansions. I have not yet been to the giant Jumbo store in Herrera but will report after two or three visits ..I just wish there was a good shop directory in the capital

Don't it all boiling down to investor confidence?

Excuse the above posting ..it is crazy . There are more than 4 million people in the capital , not more than 2 million . The countryside is not being abandoned and in la Romana there are several large retail developments and in the Bavaro Punta Cana area the same is true .Can not comment on the south west .
A new retail and office development has nothing to do with the government and their need to help the poor but is the result of investors believing they can get a capital or income profit from the building . and finally WE need to spread the wealth ..who is WE? and what are the methods ? Mostly the spread of wealth is by giving labour opportunities and by progressive taxation but maybe the above poster has a new way

I think what the alGen was trying to express is the role of government. The Gov't must do what they are suppose to do and that is the redistribution of income on a more egalitarian basis. Otherwise, if the the gov't fails to perform its role in a fair and just manner, people will eventually just get frustrated and revolt. We will end up like Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador. Most recently, Honduras almost excaped that trend, but I won't cry victory yet. We are also seeing something similar heading in that direction with Argentina, Brazil and possibly Mexico. The US with the new Obama gov't is a leftistist sympathizer and the DR has similar inclinations. The bottom line is that we just can't forget our poor and destitute. There are people that simply can not perform or function within the realms of a capitalist society. The fact of the matter and reality remains true that for every one person who become a millionaire, requires poverty for thousands of others.

"Philosopher John Rawls argued that the welfare of a society depends on the welfare of the worst-off individual because society is better off if one improves the welfare of others"

I hope the power is on.....

NOPE!!!!

NO He was not saying anything like that ..The building of an office and retail building by private investors has nothing to do with redistribution of income ,which is an entirely different important subject.

Next there will be Walmart in DR. lol

Yes of course, the construction of a multi-use office complex and commercial structure in and of itself is irrelevent as it pertains to the spreading the wealth. Maybe I was trying to read too much into algen's statement and attempted to make an interpretation away from the actual meaning. Nevertheless, there were two statements which lead me to conclude, that in other words, he was really talking about the redistribution of income: "Having more Plaza in STO DGO does not help the cause of the poor in DR" and "WE need to spread the wealth." The only one who can actually do that and has the power to achieve it, is gov't. No private individual or institutuon in a capitalist society is able to carry out such a noble task. Which lead me to conclude that the redistribution of income is one and maybe the only way gov't can actually spread the economic wealth of nations. Nevertheless, would like to hear directly from Algen himself to determine exactly what he was really trying to say.

I know IKEA will soon open a store in Santo Domingo. It's going to be the first IKEA to open in the Latin America and in the Caribbean.

Who cares about whats happening on the country side or with the electric grid when you have all you need, including this new mall and IKEA!

stop the pessimistic ideals and lest good at the bright side, we can't help the poor society we must live the life taking out the worries!!

When will MORONS get it. Private investment is NOT meant to help the poor, middle class nor the rich. It is only meant to enrich the investors "at some point". Meanwhile the "Poor" get jobs, rely less on Government and are on a path to taking care of themselves.

Enrich the poor with PRIVATE INVESTMENTS? Puleeeeeeeeeeeeese

These projects are great, but these projects they also affect everyone in the area or I could say the whole country. The government has to increase the funding for extra utilities, sewage, water, electricity, transportation, noise control (lucky in DR this is absent for the misery of some of us), all these funds are mainly taken away from where is really, really needed, in our campos.
Didn't a young 19 or 20 years old boy got killed recently protesting for the government to fix his neighborhood streets?

It would be cool is Home Depot would enter DR. I usually have to import everything from USA because in DR some of the items offered in the hardware stores are not so cool. And if they are cool they charge and arm and a leg for it

if home depot would enter the d r, it will be just like any others,f***** the consumer and give me my piece of the pie,these are the principles of our country whether we like it or not, investors and millionares do not care about the population just like our beloved politicians. we are all measure with the same stick and get f***** at the end, sorry about my french language but that's the way I see it. nobody cares...

rafi17-I could not agree with you most. Your perception is right on the nose. Though in many of the less urban areas people still practice and maintain habits common to village culture. However, outside of those areas it is pretty much every man for himself. You are on his own in the In the DR particularly the well to do, most don't care if streets have holes, energy shortage, hungry beggers, etc. so as long as within the inside to their caged-liked, walled-in, castle like mansions all of their needs are taken care and satisfied. The hell with every body else. I have wealthy relatives and I always asked myself, how they felt driving around in a mercedes while some people were riding on donkeys. I always wondered how they felt eating gourmet meals at Lina's or at many of the newer upscale eateries, while they saw starving children. I always wondered about that but was always afraid to ask.

How the heck are they going to handle all that increased volume in TRAFFIC???? It is alread congested out the yin yang. . .

Hope they've got a good plan in place.