Christian Estrosi has changed his approach and has decided to abandon the Public-Private Partnership with ICADE for the development of the Gare du Sud after the first phase and the delivery of the Raoul Mille media library.
The ongoing dispute (rejected in the first instance but still on appeal) following a petition by former city councilor Jean-Claude Mari, the operator’s reluctance, and the biblical timelines* have changed the situation.
The matter is now in the hands of the municipal technical services, which will present a new project with the same configuration as the previous one, and they will be the project managers.
Pragmatism for the mayor of Nice… A retreat for his opponents.
For Christian Estrosi, there is no doubt about it: “Without this legal action, the hall and the parking would already be delivered, as well as the rest of the development.
According to him, this project will be a new one, updated and adapted to the new situation, but it will be just as ambitious.
A consultation will be initiated but some ideas are emerging: It will be a green oasis with a focus on a public parking area and the rehabilitation of the old train station hall.
According to the mayor of Nice, this site will be part of a new green corridor, with vast public spaces, creating a link of vegetation from the Thiole garden to the new Chemins de Fer de Provence station, over more than 10,000 m2 of newly created space (or nearly 15,000 m2 if including the Thiole garden itself).
For the rest, he explains himself: “The rehabilitated Train Hall building will offer 1,800 m2 of covered public spaces. As in the initial project, this magnificent space will host neighborhood and city-scale activities: a covered market complementing the outdoor market, exhibition and event spaces…
Regarding the covered market, I want it to be a lively place. As for parking, upon completion of the works, an overall parking capacity of around 800 spaces will be offered for this neighborhood, with part of it at the Gare du Sud site itself, from 2017, underground, with a capacity of 450 spaces, entirely dedicated to public use and for merchants, an additional 150 spaces will be created as surface parking in the neighborhood, and primarily, from 2016, there will be 200 parking spaces positioned at the Jeanne d’Arc site, less than 500 meters from the Gare du Sud.
This parking volume can potentially be supplemented by a second phase of parking at the Gare du Sud site, with a capacity of 300 to 400 spaces created in a silo, depending on the assessed needs and the usage of the underground parking that will have been delivered. This will be one of the points discussed in the consultation.
Beyond the parking and the revamped Train Hall and green spaces, we have residual constructibility that could allow us to develop local facilities, for example: a gymnasium funded by the General Council, the extension of the Intermarché.
After such a detailed exposition which shows that the ideas are clear and well-defined, one might wonder what this consultation will achieve, other than for appearances’ sake!
