This building is located in my neighborhood, right across from the Chrysaliniotissa Church and a kindergarten for the families in the Chrysaliniotissa neighborhood. This building is owned by the municipality and was one of the new implementation projects for the Nicosia Master Plan team who are turning it into a Youth Center. When I was here last year (see above) the building was still under construction and now (see below) it is completely done and waiting to be inhabited. As one of the two priority neighborhoods that were planned for in the 1984 Nicosia Master Plan, Chrysaliniotissa continues to improve substantially each year and now contains all the amenities a neighborhood would need such as a craft center, a cultural center, a kindergarten, this youth center, a student hostel, plenty of cafe's and restaurants, two churches, a mosque (not currently open for lack of use), and plenty of renovated housing stock for rent from the municipality at cheap rent.
Originally, the neighborhood was chosen along with the Arab Ahmet neighborhood in the Turkish Cypriot community as "twin neighborhoods", which are directly adjacent to the buffer zone. Each neighborhood was notably vibrant before the division and vacated during and after the events in Nicosia from 1963-1974. The major rehabilitation project that encompassed the areas called for the renovation or construction of the amenities listed above to revitalize the areas nearest to the Buffer Zone.
After 20 years of work in the neighborhoods, the improvements in Chrysaliniotissa continue but the Arab Ahmet neighborhood continues to deteriorate. At the same time, the population in the Arab Ahmet neighborhood is substantially larger, but is not the demographic that was encouraged by the renovation projects. Traditional homes with beautiful facades are subdivided by owners that rent out rooms to immigrant workers and families. The immigrant population in the Old City as a whole is extremely high relative to Turkish and Greek Cypriots but the housing stock in "North" Nicosia is degrading at a much faster rate.
One of the main questions that remains for me is how, in a place of such history and character that has undergone two decades of rehabilitation work funded by the international sources (EU and USAID), has the local population not taken advantage of the incentives to return to the historic city center? I'm starting to think that at least part of the answer to this is that the Old City, no matter how "rehabilitated", is not attractive to contemporary Cypriots who see it as a symbol of division in their country and the poverty inherent in the village culture in previous generations. In an attempt to break away from traditional Cypriot culture, there is a strong emphasis on personal vehicular transportation, modernity, and private property. Meanwhile, some original owners and developers who bought up property within the city walls sit on the land and allow the condition of the urban fabric to decay while they wait for a resolution of some kind to be reached, at which point they believe the value of their property will increase substantially.
Unfortunately, as the tradition and character of Nicosia's Old City continues to be neglected, their priceless capital will continue to degrade. As an outsider who loves living in a place with character, enjoys tight-knit community, and is used to living in slightly smaller or communal living conditions, I find myself disappointed with the intimate streets of the Old City despite the substantial attempt at rehabilitation. What Nicosia needs more than financial stimulus for its built environment is the concern of its politicians and citizens who care about the preservation for this jewel city in the eastern Mediterranean.
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