Many are predicting that old Santo Domingo will become the next Cartagena de Indias, as its historic houses are being purchased by foreigners to build small hotels and restaurants catering to tourists and Dominicans who love strolling round the 16th century enclave. The restoration works that right now have the Colonial City in an apparent state of upheaval will be completed by September at the latest, said Maribel Villalona, director of the renovation program sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank. She said despite the construction, there are always good reasons to visit the Colonial City. She said the jazz nights on the steps of Calle El Conde attract more than 1,500 people. Works are being completed at the Arzobispo Merino Street, a key north-south connection.
The Ministry of Tourism is encouraging people to invest now considering that once the public works enhancing the Colonial City experience are complete, property will cost much more.
Villalona announced that the facades of 120 houses in the area are being renovated. “These are properties that have historical value,” she stated in an interview in Diario Libre.
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2014/06/16/i657821_este-momento-para-invertir-ciudad-colonial.html