Spotlight: Buenos Aires: Air of Sophistication
Buenos Aires offers a European lifestyle at an affordable price.
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With its manicured landscaping, sidewalk cafés, expansive boulevards, and cobblestone streets lined with elegant mansions, Buenos Aires blends European sophistication with Latin energy like no other city in South America. Sprinkled with monuments and restaurants, the sprawling Argentine capital is home to the plush Teatro Colón concert hall, a vibrant art scene, and a zealous café culture populated by an international crowd. It is no wonder that visitors are reminded of Paris, Milan, and Madrid.The impact that 19th-century European immigrants—some of whom were distinguished architects—had on the city is evident throughout Buenos Aires’ public areas. Neoclassical influences are found in fashionable shopping arcades; the massive government buildings are reminiscent of the Louvre and the Pantheon; and the lush green spaces, with brilliant purple Jacaranda trees, are mostly the result of plants imported from the Mediterranean.
For most of the 1990s, the Argentine peso was linked to the dollar at a one-to-one ratio, making a trip to Buenos Aires comparable in price to visiting London or New York. All that changed with the country’s political uncertainty and economic collapse of 2002. Just a couple of years later, however, the city and porteños, as locals are called, bounced back with newfound energy. Soon, apartment towers, restaurants, and clothing boutiques were popping up in every corner of the city.
Today, Europeans, especially Italians and Spaniards, are drawn to Buenos Aires. "It’s just like home for them but more fun and a lot more affordable," says Gilles Jourdan Gassin, commercial director for Sotheby’s International Realty Argentina Properties, who attributes this surge in foreign buyers to the fact that new development projects are offering amenities, such as concierge services, that Europeans and Americans are accustomed to. Gassin also sees the 2002 devaluation of the Argentine peso, resulting in the city’s overnight affordability, as a turning point. "We are seeing younger buyers who are interested in the city’s lifestyle and who can afford a second or third home here," he says. "Suddenly, an increasing number of international visitors, especially Americans, could discover the beauty of the country—its history, landscape, food and wine, tango, and polo." Improved flight schedules from major cities and services such as property management have made a difference as well.
For second homes in Buenos Aires, neighborhoods such as Palermo, Recoleta, and Puerto Madero are the most in-demand locations. The Palermo neighborhood, where the country’s acclaimed writer Jorge Luis Borges grew up, is now one of the chicest and trendiest in the city. It is the place for expats, artists, filmmakers, and writers to drink, eat, shop, and live. Recoleta, with its lavish Belle Époque mansions and Italian baroque palaces, name-brand stores, and gourmet restaurants, continues to be a neighborhood of choice for sophisticated locals and foreigners alike. Here, a recently renovated four-bedroom apartment—located in the French-style Alvear Avenue and Libertad building on the Plazoleta Carlos Pellegrini—is one of the most expensive resale residences currently on the market. Meanwhile, the development of a pair of two residential
With its manicured landscaping, sidewalk cafés, expansive boulevards, and cobblestone streets lined with elegant mansions, Buenos Aires blends European sophistication with Latin energy like no other city in South America. Sprinkled with monuments and restaurants, the sprawling Argentine capital is home to the plush Teatro Colón concert hall, a vibrant art scene, and a zealous café culture populated by an international crowd. It is no wonder that visitors are reminded of Paris, Milan, and Madrid.
The impact that 19th-century European immigrants—some of whom were distinguished architects—had on the city is evident throughout Buenos Aires’ public areas. Neoclassical influences are found in fashionable shopping arcades; the massive government buildings are reminiscent of the Louvre and the Pantheon; and the lush green spaces, with brilliant purple Jacaranda trees, are mostly the result of plants imported from the Mediterranean.
For most of the 1990s, the Argentine peso was linked to the
dollar at a one-to-one ratio, making a trip to Buenos Aires comparable in price
to visiting London or New York. All that changed with the country’s political
uncertainty and economic collapse of 2002. Just a couple of years later,
however, the city and porteños, as locals are called, bounced back with newfound
energy. Soon, apartment towers, restaurants, and clothing boutiques were popping
up in every corner of the city.
