The historic building on Rue Pertinax, rehabilitated into a student residence, was officially inaugurated this Thursday, October 19, after 15 years of legal battles.
The noise pollution, the squatters, the long administrative battle, and the construction work are finally over, and now the building at 16 Rue Pertinax has residents. They are students, young professionals under 30, or even teacher-researchers. Before them, the last person to have lived there left in 2008.
Constructed in 1895, at the request of Henri Leblanc, the historic building nearly never came back to life in this year 2023. It was quickly resold to someone named Eugรจne Le Monnier.
In 1937, it was bequeathed to the department of the Seine, which became the Hauts-de-Seine in 1968. This bequest came from the owner, Henri Bรฉquet, then a former president, who made this gesture on the condition that the profits generated benefit the wards of the nation.
Virtually abandoned and without maintenance since the 1990s, it was completely vacated 15 years ago. Since then, several attempts to sell and a demolition project in 2014 to create new social student housing have successively failed. La Mรฉtropole NCA, then known as the Communautรฉ urbaine Nice Cรดte dโAzur, transferred it to the landlord Erilia in 2016.
53 additional housing solutions for Nice students
This student residence opened its doors last August in downtown Nice, after two years of substantial work. It didn’t take until the start of the school year for the 53 furnished apartments to be rented. Located 10 minutes from Vieux-Nice, and just a few meters from Avenue Jean Mรฉdecin and its tramway, the building includes 52 studio apartments (T1) of 19mยฒ offered at 450 euros per month and one 2-room apartment (T2) of 28mยฒ per month and an unoccupied commercial space.
The contemporary blends with the charm of the old in this Belle รpoque building with five floors and an elevator. Indeed, the original Carrara marble of the balconies has been restored, and the faรงade traditionally plastered, adorned with shutters in a totally Niรงois style.
A coworking space, a laundry room, and a bicycle storage area have been fitted for the benefit of all tenants. A post for the daily present Fac-Habitat manager has been created. The residence also includes three ground-floor apartments for persons with reduced mobility.
The owning company, Erilia, is not new to such projects; in Nice, the residence Flavia is the ninth. And in the Alpes-Maritimes, it manages 18,679 homes in 66 towns. Why Flavia?
Nearly a thousand additional homes by 2026
“In the tense period we are experiencing in terms of housing, it is obvious that we must continue to push for an assertive stance on construction and production,” states Anthony Borrรฉ, first deputy to the Mayor of Nice. He emphasizes his determination to take action in a territory faced with land speculation where “land is scarce.”
The Metropolis intends to offer 935 additional rental homes by 2026 to address this crisis. 56 will especially emerge on Rue de Paris, 65 on Avenue de la Californie, 149 on Avenue Paul Arรจne, and 155 on Avenue Pierre Isnard.
Since 2008, the community of communes is proud to have approved 2,000 social student rental homes and rehabilitated 1,500 homes.
