From Psychiatric Hospital to Mall: One in Six Shopping Centers Has a Past
- At least 13 malls in the Valley of Mexico occupy sites once used for other purposes, accounting for nearly 20% of the area of 81 malls analyzed by SiiLA.
In southern Mexico City, a shopping center welcomes visitors through the same entrance that once led to a psychiatric hospital. Behind that facade, the rooms where patients received treatment are gone, as are the hallways that served as the setting for a horror film¹ before they were demolished. The shortage of occupants that contributed to the hospital’s closure after more than half a century of operation is also a thing of the past, as not a single retail space now stands vacant.
Patio Tlalpan opened in February 2018 with more than 38,400 square meters of gross leasable area, nearly nine years after the former Clínica San Rafael ceased operations. By then, FIBRA Uno’s (FUNO) project had already faced permitting difficulties and opposition from local residents, while the hospital’s demolition, which began in late 2012, was required by authorities to preserve its facade. Today, the shopping center houses more than 60 retail spaces, accommodating 22 types of businesses, from food sales to entertainment, fashion, and fitness.
Today, its entrance reminds us that preserving part of a property’s architectural identity does not require preserving its original function, or even its structure. It also shows that the end of one activity does not necessarily mean that the property where it took place has lost its usefulness, as it may find new demand when put to another use.
Patio Tlalpan is not an isolated case. As of the third quarter of 2026, SiiLA identifies at least 13 shopping centers in the Valley of Mexico built on properties or land previously used for other purposes. Together, they account for nearly 711,000 square meters of gross leasable area, equivalent to 19.9% of the total area of the 81 shopping centers analyzed.
These transformations can take different forms, depending on how much work is done on the original buildings. One involves the full or partial reuse of existing structures, as seen at Plaza Loreto, which retains facades and walls from a former paper mill. Another involves complete replacement, in which the original building is demolished to make way for new construction, as happened with the former Cine Manacar, which was replaced by a complex housing offices and retail space.
The extent of the work depends on both the original building’s characteristics and the requirements of its new use. However, even when a building can be physically adapted, zoning regulations and architectural preservation restrictions still govern its transformation. These considerations are compounded by the project’s economic feasibility, determined by the cost of reusing the property versus constructing a new building and the demand it could attract once completed.
In a market like the Valley of Mexico, these possibilities matter most in established areas, where a shortage of vacant land pushes developers to consider properties used for other purposes. Former hospitals, factories, and movie theaters converted into shopping centers show that development opportunities are not only found in available spaces but can also be created by transforming those already occupied.
So, the next time you hear that a shopping center was built on a cemetery or the site of a former psychiatric hospital, it may be worth looking into what once stood there. The real story might be just as surprising, even if it has fewer ghosts.
To learn more about occupancy, tenants and the retail mix of properties in Mexico, visit SiiLA Market Analytics or email us at contacto@siila.com.mx.
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¹ Archivo 253, directed by Abe Rosenberg, was filmed in 2012 inside Clínica San Rafael, shortly before its demolition, and released in February 2015.
