The City decided to cancel the tender to install a gift shop in a vault at the Recoleta Cemetery. "The measure is a response to the legal action taken against the expiration of the vault's permit, which was going to be used to move forward with the concession," sources from the Buenos Aires City Government told Clarín.
The news comes hours before the courts were expected, according to reports, to halt the project through an injunction, following an amparo petition filed a week ago by the family that owns the vault where the venture was to be built.
The space is located in Section 17, Block 201, with an approximate covered area of 24.55 square meters. "It is an old vault that, after completing the administrative procedure established by law, was returned to the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires," official sources explained.
They added that "the 30 owners of the vault have not paid maintenance fees for 20 years and owe $22,215,070 for the period 2007/2026. They also owe the cost of repair work on the vault carried out by the City: $15,587,653. Formal demand letters were sent and official notices published since 2025, and no one addressed the payment of the outstanding amount."
They clarified that "the procedure for expropriating vaults is the same as always, in all cemeteries: the titleholders are notified and if they do not come forward, the legal proceedings move ahead."
Following the publication of the tender, the owners came forward and filed an amparo petition in the Buenos Aires courts (Girado Lucía v. GCBA re amparo, Case No. 193444/2026-0, Administrative and Tax Court No. 6, López Vergara), requesting that the expiration procedure for the family vault concession be declared null and void.
