The Government of the City of Buenos Aires decided to remove Plaza Inmigrantes de Armenia from its underground parking plan after months of neighbourhood opposition in Palermo. Martín Cantera, president of Commune 14, conveyed the decision to residents at the request of city cabinet chief Gabriel Sánchez Zinny and Economic Development Minister Hernán Lombardi. The reversal applies to that square but does not stop the procedure for four other sites across the capital.
The original project originated as a private initiative by E-ARG S.R.L. that the Economic Development Ministry declared to be in the public interest. It proposed five park-and-ride garages beneath green spaces: Plaza Armenia, Parque de la Innovación in Núñez, Plaza Noruega in Belgrano, Parque España in Barracas and a property on Lavardén Street in Parque Patricios. Together, they were expected to provide about 1,019 parking spaces under a long-term concession.
Neighbourhood opposition organised around the slogan “Save Plaza Armenia”. Palermo residents held protests, joined a June demonstration and filed an environmental injunction seeking the immediate suspension of the tender. Their complaint went beyond traffic policy: it challenged the privatisation of green space and warned that construction would close the square for at least two years, require the removal of almost all its trees and leave some unable to be replanted.
The political decision, however, does not yet match the administrative record. Order 262/DGCOYP/26 approved the technical preselection for a 20-year concession and still listed Plaza Armenia among the sites. After the technical bids were opened in May, the evaluation committee found that Establecimientos Disuasorios Consorcio de Cooperación was the only bidder meeting the minimum requirements. Officials promised that the square would be removed once the award is confirmed.
The city executive said it decided not to proceed in Palermo after hearing residents' demands and reviewing the availability of private parking in the area. That explanation combines a participatory argument with an assessment of existing supply, but the exclusion still has to be formally reflected. The garages planned for Núñez, Belgrano, Barracas and Parque Patricios remain active, and the Government expects their construction to begin in the coming months.
Residents celebrated the announcement as a partial victory and said they would monitor the process until Plaza Armenia disappears from the final documents. The award will be the next checkpoint, when the promise communicated by officials must coincide with the legal scope of the concession. The dispute also leaves an open question about how private initiatives affecting green spaces are assessed and at what stage neighbourhood participation can alter a project already under tender.
