From its foundation the city of Buenos Aires had had problems as the great ships could unload what they transported to its borders. The little depth of the river did that the ships could not approach the coast too much, having to remain far from there and to unload its passengers and merchandises in great carts or boats.
In 1882 the national government contracted the businessman Eduardo Madero to be in charge of the construction of a new port which would solve these disadvantages. The project of Madero was chosen from between many others, standing out between the rejected ones, the proposal of Huergo Engineer, perhaps the most adapted for the city in that period.
Nevertheless the country wished to show a modernity image, and the project of Madero, with docks, excluses and swinging bridges, certainly obtained this objective.
The construction began in 1887 and finalized completely in 1897, although the installed fittings were partially operative since some years before. Important amounts of money were spent in this construction, and it was a ingenieril landmark of the time. Ten years after finished, and due to the increase of the large of the ships, Puerto Madero was totally obsolete.
The government had then to face the construction of a new port, this time following the ideas of Huergo of a port of teeth shape docks which would be open directly to the river; the result is now known like "Puerto Nuevo" (New Port), still perfectly operative after almost a century of life.
Once obsolete Puerto Madero, the zone in which it was, entered a decay of decades, becoming one of most the degraded zones of the city, mixture of deposit with gigantic uncultivated land. In 1925, 1940, 1960, 1969, 1971, 1981 and 1985 successive proposals appeared trying to urbanize the old port, or directly to demolish it and to construct on it, but no one was to be made.
On November 15th., 1989, the Ministerio de Obras y Servicios Públicos (Works and Public Services Ministry, the Department of the Interior and the Muncipalidad of the City of Buenos Aires signed the act of constitution of a joint-stock company denominated "Corporación Antiguo Puerto Madero" (“Old Puerto Madero Corporation”. Having as objective the urbanization of the area, the governments of the Nation and the city participated like egalitarian partners.
The 170 hectares of the place had superposed jurisdictions: the General Administration of Ports, Argentine railroads and the "Junta Nacional de Granos" (National Grain Meeting) had interests in the zone. The signed agreement implied the transference of the totality of the hectares to the Old Corporation Puerto Madero S.A., whereas the government of the city were in charge of the regulation of the norms of urban development.
