Puerto Paraíso
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 | |
 The exterior of the mall in 2016 | |
| Address | Boulevard Lázaro Cárdenas 1501 Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur |
|---|---|
| Opening date | 2001 |
| Developer | Grupo Frel |
| Stores and services | 126 (2008) |
| Floor area | 12 acres (4.9 ha; 49,000 m2) |
| Floors | 3 |
| Website | https://puertoparaiso.mx/ |
Puerto Paraíso (literally Paradise Port[1]) is a mall in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. It is also known as Puerto Paraíso Entertainment Complex,[2] Puerto Paraíso Mall,[3] and Plaza Puerto Paraíso.[4] Opened in late 2001, Puerto Paraíso was developed by Ramon Marcos and constructed by the Mexico City-based real estate developer Grupo Frel. The mall's architecture blends traditional Mexican colonial style with modern features, including fountains, waterfalls, and sculptures. It is next to the marina and the Luxury Avenue shopping mall and is situated between Plaza Bonita Mall and Marina Fiesta Resort. Spanning 12 acres (4.9 ha; 49,000 m2), the three-storey mall had 126 stores in 2008.
Puerto Paraíso's target customer base is people with upscale preferences. It has entertainment venues including a video arcade, a bowling alley, and a Cinemex cinema, which serves as one of the venues for the yearly Los Cabos International Film Festival. Its dining options include a food court and a Ruth's Chris Steak House. It houses numerous retail options including both Western and Mexican brands. Chedraui Selecto, a supermarket, and the Liverpool department store opened branches in the mall. Visitors interested in arts and crafts can visit galleries showcasing works from local Mexican artists.
Puerto Paraíso is a mall in downtown Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico.[5] Located next to the marina, it is three stories, is an open-air mall and occupies over 12 acres (4.9 ha; 49,000 m2) of indoor area.[6][7] Puerto Paraíso occupies a significant part of the waterfront and spans multiple blocks.[8] After the mall's launch, the surrounding downtown shopping streets and the Boulevard Marina began being dubbed "Old Town".[9] It is between the Plaza Bonita Mall and Marina Fiesta Resort's Golden Zone Shopping Center and next to the Luxury Avenue shopping mall.[1][10][11][12] Reachable from within Puerto Paraíso, Luxury Avenue is a luxury boutique mall.[10]
Puerto Paraíso's design fuses traditional Mexican colonial style with contemporary features.[10] Mosaics made of marble and cantera are set into the flooring.[10] The mall has a tower, fountains at its entryway, and a bright garden, and is decorated with waterfalls and sculptures.[9][13][14] It has indoor stores and open air areas with manicured terraces.[15] It had paid parking at an underground multistorey parking structure.[16][17][18] The parking structure has charging stations for electric vehicles.[19]
History
Puerto Paraíso was built by the real estate developer Grupo Frel, a Mexico City-based architectural firm and its developer was Ramon Marcos.[10][20] It began operating in the fourth quarter of 2001.[9] The mall's target customer base consisted of people who with upscale preferences, and it aimed to give both local residents and visitors eateries, retail outlets, and entertainment options.[9] Sandra A. Berry of Los Cabos Magazine said that before Puerto Paraíso's launch, Cabo San Lucas was viewed as "a T-shirt town". She said that the mall's debut altered that impression through its "marble, granite, escalators, elevators, and store windows full of eye candy". According to Berry, Puerto Paraíso was Baja California Sur's most visionary shopping mall when it was built.[21]
Shortly after the mall opened, The Spokesman-Review's Dan Webster in 2003 cited it as an example of how Cabo San Lucas now showed only a hint of its classic appeal. He said that the "sparkling" mall made Cabo San Lucas resemble the Beverly Hills shopping street Rodeo Drive more than a place rooted in Mexican heritage.[22] According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, the mall was largely deserted in 2003.[23] At the beginning of the 2003 Cabo Jazz Festival, the jazz musicians Joyce Cooling, Gregg Karukas, and Brenda Russell gave performances at the mall.[24] About 50% of the mall was in use in 2006, and around 126 outlets were housed there in 2008.[1][7] Frommer's travel writer Lynne Bairstow said in 2006 that the mall inaccurately claimed to feature designer retailers. She stated that an outlet might have at most two branded products and numerous spaces remain empty. Despite the criticism, she liked that it offered a good selection of souvenirs and swimming attire.[25]
The mall was one of eight properties held by the real estate holding company Fibra Shop in 2013.[26] Since Baja California Sur frequently is subject to drought, the mall financed desalination systems that do reverse osmosis to produce drinking water.[27] When the yearly Los Cabos International Film Festival takes place, the mall's Cinemex, a cinema, serves as one of the venues.[28][29] While publicizing Fast & Furious 6 for its Mexican premiere in 2013, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, and Michelle Rodriguez visited the mall.[30]
The mall experienced a series of safety incidents at the beginning of 2026.[31] In January 2026, Chedraui Selecto, a supermarket in the mall, was shut down after a gas leak in its bakery. While the fire department and civil protection team reviewed the property, about 600 people vacated the mall.[32] The following month, a gas smell at the mall caused people to evacuate.[33] When inspectors from Protección Civil and the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department detected safety concerns at Puerto Paraíso, the Los Cabos Municipality ordered the temporary closure of the mall in April 2026. According to Juan Antonio Carbajal Figueroa, the fire chief, there was an elevated hazard since the mall that month had six logged reports and its fire protection equipment was out of service. One report was an April 8 warning about a potential gas leak, though it was not substantiated.[34] The same day, in an unrelated incident the utility register on the sidewalk by a primary entrypoint had an electrical blast, which generated smoke.[34][35]
One day before the mall's closure, a water pipe had burst. As a result, some of the retail outlets had to evacuate due to the flooding and falling ceiling panels.[35] City officials said the purpose of the closure was to avoid harm to public safety rather than penalizing the mall since the vicinity is frequented by visitors and residents.[34] Following multiple days of inspections by city officials, Puerto Paraíso resumed operations. The city allowed the mall's first floor and its parking garage's first floor to reopen and said subject to further inspections, the rest of the mall would be opened later.[36][37]
