| Dot Baires Shopping | |
| Address: | Vedia 3600, Buenos Aires |
| Owner: | IRSA |
| Architect: | Pfeifer-Zurdo [1] [2] |
| Floor Area: | 173,000 m² |
| Floors: | 4 (plus 3 underground floors) |
| Parking: | Yes (30,328 m²) |
Dot Baires Shopping is a shopping center located in the Saavedra neighborhood of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The mall was opened in 2009[3] [4] incorporating an office building into the complex, plus architecture with a dynamic, highly visible front and a landscaped atrium on Avenida General Paz.
The shopping center belongs to local holding IRSA[5] and was built at a cost of US$160 million.[4] It was designed by the Pfeifer-Zurdo (PfZ) studio.[2] Shopping Dot has three floors for commercial stores and three underground floors (for parking purposes) covering a total of 173,000 m2. It has a total of 155 commercial stores.
Apart from the commercial stores, Dot Baires shopping has 10 movie theaters of Hoyts chain, occupying a surface area of 6,500 m2 and with a total of 2,500 seats.
The mall has an eight-story office building connected to it in which companies such as HP and Flybondi have their corporate offices. Additionally, it has a second building inaugurated in April 2019 called Polo Dot, where Mercado Libre has its corporate offices.
When some foreign companies ceased operations in Argentina due to the financial crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (such as Chilean Falabella and American Walmart), IRSA invested US$6 million to refurbish the Dot Baires, adding services stores including a medical center, a gym, a pharmacy chain, a premium food market and even five-a-side football pitches.[6]
On December 6, 2012, in the middle of the deluge and floods, a group of people entered the shopping mall to complain. As reported by IRSA spokesmen to the newspaper "La Nación", they were residents of shanty town Barrio Mitre, who were protesting because their neighborhood was flooded and accused the construction of the shopping center of the flooding. The residents of Barrio Mitre have been denouncing for some time the conflicts due to flooding in the area, accusing the Dot shopping center of generating them.[7] [8]
On the other hand, IRSA denied the accusations alleging that in days where in the period of one hour it rains more than 100 mm. the pluvial system collapsed, as it happened in other parts of the city.[8]
In 2009 and soon after the shopping was inaugurated, fashion designer Laurencio Adot claimed for the rights over the Dot and Dot Store names so he stated to have registered it in 2006[4] with the purpose of using the brand for a boutique on Avenida Alvear in Recoleta, Buenos Aires. The store commercialised clothing designed by Adot and other Latin American designers but closed two years after being opened.[9] Adot also used the Dot name for his fashion shows.[10] [11]