Panama History: Extreme Real Estate Makeovers in Casco Viejo

Panama, Casco Viejo
Casco Antiguo, San Felipe


Have you seen those TV shows where they take a one level house and turn it into a mansion or where they promise you to look at least ten years younger by changing your makeup, style or even surgery? I have seen some incredible human makeovers in a show that is all about plastic surgery.

Well, how about a 100 years younger? Restorations at Casco Viejo have the same incredible effects. As a real estate broker focused only in Casco Antiguo, I have dealt with both unrestored and restored properties. For me, restored apartments are the best investment purchase, but my passion lies on dealing with professional developers who are looking to restore a jewel. I love unrestored buildings. They are usually a mess, but the beauty is there, just hidden behind layers and layers of stuff.

One of the biggest challenges, however, to present an unrestored building is to convey the vision of what it was and what it can become. Today, I can present you with a beautiful example. I just happen to have pictures from way back... historic pictures from the colonial times, when the plaza that has the building now called Montefiori was a bull ring. Then you´ll see pictures taken about three years ago, when we sold the building to the developer. And today, Montefiori is fully restored, the amazing work of polishing the jewel is over.

When I showed this property, over and over again as it usually happens, it was so hard for people to see the boulevard of commercial spaces. Furthemore, we didn´t know it had an original water well made of stone in the middle of the property, next to the inner garden, which makes a lot of sense as in colonial times this was the common way to get water for the house. Otherwise you had to carry it all the way from the river in Santa Ana, a river named Chorrillo.

So there you go, a piece of Panama´s history has been recovered and can now be yours!

Now... enjoy the pictures...

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