This Friday, the 31st, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, signed the purchase of the historic Joseph Gire Building, better known as “A Noite”, in Praça Mauá, in the center of Rio de Janeiro’s capital. The property, which once housed Rádio Nacional, was acquired for R$ 28.9 million.
In a note, the City Hall declared that “the negotiation is an important landmark to induce even more the revitalization of the central region”. The objective is to resell the building to the private sector.
“A special day for Rio. After 20 years abandoned and without a destination, the A Noite building – the first skyscraper in Latin America – was acquired today by the city hall. revitalization of the Center”, wrote Mayor Eduardo Paes in a social network.
The purchase was completed after unsuccessful attempts to sell by the Union. The building went up for auction on different occasions, with no interest appearing. In the first auction attempt, the initial bid was BRL 93 million, but it did not attract buyers. The asking price was reduced to BRL 73.5 million in June 2021, but it did not attract investors either. In the middle of last year, the government tried another auction for the building, for R$ 38.5 million, also without success.
“After four sales attempts by the federal government between 2021 and 2022, the SPU made the building available on the market for the fifth time. In September 2022, Mayor Eduardo Paes announced that he would buy it if there was no proposal by the deadline established for bids, on February 18, 2023. As the private proposals did not come, days before the deadline, the Rio City Hall filed for the acquisition of A Noite”, reported the City Hall.
The building is in Art Deco style and has 22 floors, is 102 meters high and has a constructed area of 29,377.82 square meters. In 2013, it was listed by the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan), comprising the facade and architectural elements, such as the spiral staircase.
“The municipality will negotiate the building via a real estate investment fund, which allows for more versatility in negotiation with private investors, such as down payment plus installments and swaps. In recent years, the City Hall has negotiated similar public properties, such as land in Santo Cristo where a residential development, Rio Energy, is being built. Another example is the building in Largo dos Leões, in Humaitá, which will be converted into another residential project”, reported the City Hall, in a statement.
Copyright © Estadão. All rights reserved.