Cenco Costanera Mall Shopping

This guide to the Cenco Costanera complex in Santiago follows Horst Paulmann, the retail magnate behind Cencosud, and his outsized promise for this one address in Providencia: a tower, a hotel, a hospital and the country's largest mall. It traces the 2008 financial crisis that stopped construction cold in January 2009, leaving the half-built skeleton exposed to the weather for eleven months, and the resumed build that finally opened the mall in June 2012. You'll hear why the tower above sat finished yet empty for years afterward. Look up at the steel that once stood idle before you head inside.