Progreso is planning to finally restore its historic casino.
After 25 years of neglect, the once-grand social center of the port city will be rebuilt and dubbed Centro Social y Cultural Casino de Progreso, or Progreso Casino Social and Cultural Center, announced Mayor Julián Zacarías Curi.
The iconic property, on the corner of Calle 31 and 74, has been on the verge of falling down for years.
“After almost 25 years with the doors closed and the walls increasingly damaged, finally in June we will begin with the transformation and rebuilding of our Casino de Progreso, which will be the heritage of progressives,” said the mayor.
The 1940s-era casino’s recovery plan has already been approved by the Yucatan State Government and validated by INAH, the National Institute of Anthropology and History.
The mayor said he will seek legal mechanisms to ensure that the property is declared a city heritage site so that it cannot be sold or compromised by any future administration.
Progreso historian Pedro Bermúdez Solís, chronicler of Progreso said the casino was originally named the Paco Club, after Francisco Morales Góllez, founder of the old “Benito Juárez” league of employees, member of the municipal council and delegate of the Spanish Charity in Progreso. He was assassinated in 1924, along with Piedad Luna, Cecilio Pérez and Luis Zavala, for defending the rights of workers.
