Patrick Mottard, general councilor of the canton, has always been one of the main players in the development of the Gare du Sud project.
After the information given by the Mayor of Nice regarding the change of the Gare du Sud project, his intervention was naturally necessary.
He provided us with his arguments and motivations:
“In 2009, I somewhat hastily accepted the development project of the Gare du Sud and the Liberation district. At the time, after four years of fierce battle with the residents, I was relieved to see the travelers’ building and the large hall finally saved.
But, over time, I confess that the project validated by the municipal council started to bother me a bit. Since it was a Public-Private partnership, it was necessary to concede numerous constructions to the developer, which densified the neighborhood instead of airing it out.
Therefore, yesterday, at the Fuon Cauda school, when Christian Estrosi announced the abandonment of the partnership with the private sector (faced with the inertia of a developer paralyzed by appeals) and proposed that the Town Hall and the General Council take over direct project management for a simplified project, I could only agree.
The essential is preserved (the hall, the sports hall for the Vernier college, the green spaces…) and, despite the maintained expansion of the supermarket and the construction of a silo parking lot, the whole is much more fluid. In fact, the new version resembles a lot the project we proposed ten years ago with architect Mario Basso, and whose model is still in my office at the General Council.
There remain – as is normal for a project of this magnitude – a few issues to resolve:
First, the persistent issue of parking. The new version is no more reassuring than the first in this regard. The Jeanne d’Arc parking is far from being realized and Valrose is too far away. It will therefore be necessary to revise the plan, including for the crucial period of the construction work.
The fate of the large hall cannot be confused with the rather modest ambition of a covered market that half of the market traders do not want. Several avenues need to be explored.
The cost is that of direct management and will be borne by the taxpayers of Nice. And, even if the gamble is worth it, it would be advisable for the bill not to be too steep. However, the cost of 25.5 million seems optimistic. To be continued.
Finally, I would add two aesthetic constraints with the height of the silo parking that will be built on Alfred Binet (not too high) and the expansion of the Clément Roassal supermarket (not too anarchic). On this last point, I am not too worried; the spirit of Ultra Violet will keep watch (!).
Once these issues are resolved, the new Gare du Sud, without a doubt, will be a success. All the more reason to develop an equivalent space to the north on the Ray fields.”
After the slightly worn-out public-private partnership, could we be reaching a true left-right partnership in Nice?
