Colonia del Valle

Colonia del Valle
Neighborhood of Benito Juárez
Panoramic view of north section of Del Valle
Colonia del Valle location in southcenter Mexico City
Coordinates: 19°23′21″N 99°10′04″W / 19.389164°N 99.167668°W / 19.389164; -99.167668
Country	Mexico
State	Federal district
City	Mexico City
Borough	Benito Juárez

Colonia del Valle (Spanish for: Del Valle neighborhood) is an area of Benito Juarez borough in Mexico City, consisting of three official areas, Norte, Centro and Sur, and small surrounding neighborhoods.

Its inhabitants belong mostly to the upper and upper-middle class of the capital, home to many parks, wide tree-lined streets, luxurious shops and some monuments of the city. It is an area with an important infrastructure, including communications, transport and urban services of all kinds, and it is considered one of the landmarks of the city.

Since 2013 it has been listed, by Mexican financial media, as one of the areas with highest housing costs in the country.

At the beginning of the 20th century the ranches cultivated with alfalfa and fruit trees were divided, giving rise to Colonia Americana. Some neighborhood streets are named after these ranches and their fruit trees, others after Mexican philanthropists.

While serving as a streetcar route from Mexico City to Coyoacán it developed slowly until 1920, when it expanded and the Avenida de los Insurgentes was paved. Large-scale home and mansion construction started. The area also featured monument construction and green areas; one is the Paque Hundido, built on a former sand mine.

In the 1960s the area was as fully developed as many other neighborhoods of equal purchasing power on its borders. Commercial development included two major facilities, Liverpool Insurgentes opening in 1962 and the country's first shopping center, University Plaza, in 1969.

In 1978 the city built the Ejes viales, a system of wide, one-way roads criss-crossing the city, and with this Del Valle was transformed radically and permanently, its tree-lined boulevards with green medians transformed into quasi-freeways. Ejes 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 south crossed from east to west and 1, 2 and 3 from south to north. This drove many families to look for a quieter place to live and began the process of redeveloping the area. Mansions were replaced by apartment buildings, offices or schools.

Crime statistics from 2009 showed that Colonia del Valle was the second most crime-ridden neighborhood in Mexico City, sharing the top 10 list with notorious neighborhoods Tepito and Colonia Doctores. However, 2012 statistics do not place Del Valle on the list of the top 6 most crime-ridden neighborhoods.