Naranjito weighs federal funds to finish its unfinished coliseum or clear the site for apartments
Naranjito is asking the Puerto Rico Department of Housing whether federal CDBG-MIT mitigation funds can pay to finish a coliseum that has stood unfinished for more than 20 years, and if not, the municipality will demolish it, with more than 100 affordable apartments as one option for the site, El Vocero reported on October 1, 2026.
A coliseum that was never finished
Construction began in 2002 and the building was never completed, the mayor told the outlet. A feasibility study weighed five options: finishing it to the original plans, finishing it with air conditioning and parking, converting it into a market, demolishing it, or demolishing it to build housing. Finishing it with the extra improvements would cost about $23 million, money the municipality does not have on its own, according to the outlet.
To qualify for the mitigation funds, the building would have to serve as an emergency shelter and a distribution centre for medicine and food. The municipality has held one meeting with the housing department and a second is pending with no date. The mayor expects an answer before the end of 2026. If the funds do not come, one option for the site is more than 100 apartments for affordable and first-time buyers in about eight four-story buildings, the outlet reported.
The site
The coliseum stands on a municipal property of 70,132 m2 at 147 Calle 1 in the Guadiana ward, according to property records analysed by RED Atlas. The permit file matches the outlet's dates: a 2002 land transaction for the municipality's purchase of 18 cuerdas, a 2003 location consultation for a recreational project on the site, and 2003 and 2004 construction permits for earthworks and for the coliseum itself. The property is zoned D-G and lies outside the mapped flood zones (FEMA zone X).
Housing around the site
Within 1 km of the coliseum, RED Atlas lists no house for sale or for rent today and one lot for sale, asking $75,000. The registry has recorded 13 sales within that radius since January 2025, at a median price of $90,000. Naranjito as a whole has a thin apartment market: six apartments are listed for sale and two for rent across the town as of October 20, 2026.
Recorded sales across the town are few: the registry recorded 12 residential sale deeds in Naranjito in October 2025, the latest month available, at a median price of $95,000.