In half a century, the road to Paris, which penetrates into Nantes from the east, has transformed into a vast open-air commercial zone 2.5 kilometers long. “It has become a row of ‘shoebox’ stores with parking lots around it. In places, you can no longer even cross it on foot!”, underlines Thomas Quero, deputy for urban projects (PS) in Nantes. An almost caricatured illustration of “ugly France”.
The big turning point dates from 1986, with the inauguration of the E. Leclerc Paridis shopping center while barely a kilometer away is the Carrefour Beaujoire. In total: 42,000 square meters, around a hundred shops and 5,000 parking spaces, mainly open-air. Over the years, urbanization has developed without an overall plan, while a vast station combining tram, train, coach and bus, called Haluchère-Batignolles, opened ten years ago.
“Today it is about revolutionizing this entrance to the city which really needs it”, summarizes Hubert Goupil de Bouillé, head of the Paridis 21 project. In action: the two hypermarkets and real estate developers. “We are working to reconcile our interests, particularly on the housing side, with theirs,” explains Thomas Quéro.
“A neighborhood that must live seven days a week”
The most impressive redevelopment is called Paridis 21: 450 million euros of investment planned for an operation carried out on 20 hectares of already waterproofed land (mainly car parks). “We are going to create a neighborhood there which must live twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, whereas today it is devoted to single-activity from Monday to Saturday,” summarizes Hubert Goupil de Bouillé, head of this project led by a local businessman, Pierre Chartier, associated with the Compagnie de Phalsbourg, an Ile-de-France developer known for the aesthetic quality of its shopping centers. “We are giving a lot of space to pedestrians, to gentle circulation. We are burying car parks, building 380 housing units, a third of which are social, but also offices and shops,” continues the manager. New attention is also being paid to the quality of public space.
It prevents. 25,000 m² of additional stores, including a Leroy Merlin and more than 15,000 m² dedicated to restaurants and leisure, isn’t that too much? This is the conviction of certain elected officials – the metropolitan council only narrowly approved the program – as well as of certain residents. “It’s still a huge block of concrete, criticize the residents of the Les Amis de la Beaujoire association. And it is not the elected officials who are leading the operation, but the developers. Basically, they are starting the process again. new towns of the 20th century, with simply more trees and photovoltaic panels.” An argument dismissed on the side of Paridis 21. “The 1,600 residents we consulted mostly support the project,” we assure.
The Carrefour Beaujoire redevelopment project, carried out by a subsidiary of the group and the developer Altarea, created less of a stir. It is true that it has not yet been launched. Of the 10 hectares of the commercial site, 40% should be covered by green spaces, including 20% in open ground. The space occupied by parking should be drastically reduced. “We will also create diversity with several hundred housing units and businesses. And we are even considering reducing the surface area of the hypermarket,” explains Gaëtan Wargny, urban development director of Altarea Cogedim.
The objective, in any case, is ambitious: to transform this space reserved only for cars and trolleys into a real neighborhood. Verdict in ten to fifteen years.
An article from special report from L’Express “Cities”published in the weekly of November 16.
.