The first development projects of the Groues district have not yet emerged from the ground that the worries arrive. The mayor of Nanterre, Patrick Jarry (Left Citizen) was alarmed on Thursday in a press release that the results of the ZAC des Groues west of the Grande Arche show a significant deficit.
While for many years the city of Nanterre claimed to be “excluded” from discussions concerning the major development axes of part of its territory, since the creation of the local establishment Paris La Défense, it has had its say.
“It is in this context that the city of Nanterre obtained a reduction of 81,100 square meters from the initial construction program (des Groues, editor’s note) including 77,100 square meters of housing, or approximately 1,100 housing units less, and obtained in parallel four hectares of additional green spaces open to the public. We measure with the health crisis that we have been living for a year how necessary this requirement to control density is, indicates the mayor. However, it is Nanterre who pays for this drop in constructability, by taking charge of 24.5 million euros, in particular with the financing of a third of the school groups, which should however have been taken care of within the framework of of the development operation ”.
And the elected official explains that Nanterre will have to pay a subsidy of 10.5 million euros for the construction of social housing, regretting that neither the State, nor the region nor the department will provide a subsidy. “Here again, it is the City of Nanterre which alone takes its responsibilities. This represents a cost of an additional 10.5 million euros. The City of Nanterre will therefore devote a total of 35 million euros to the Groues district. It is considerable! », Laments Patrick Jarry.
For the mayor “despite this very important financial commitment” of the city, the balance sheet of the ZAC presented by Paris La Défense shows a deficit of 16 million euros. To compensate for this gap, according to Patrick Jarry, Paris La Défense is proposing to increase the price of housing, whether it be home ownership housing, intermediate housing, or social housing.
“In the current context, the rise in housing prices, already at the maximum of what is practiced in other districts of our city, is clearly not possible, and cannot constitute a variable precisely to improve the financial results of the city. ZAC des Groues. From the start, Nanterre has been working to make future housing in Les Groues accessible to Nanterrians and to the working world, ”he laments.
Patrick Jarry maintains his idea of not making the “eleventh district” of his city too dense. “We therefore need to be able to reduce the height of buildings, increase the distance between them, preserve open ground and green spaces to provide more breathing space, but also improve the architectural design and ensure the durability of the materials used,… In short, we need room for maneuver so that the inhabitants of this new district can live in a pleasant environment adapted to the effects of climate change in our territory “, he continues before adding:” Paris La Défense and its technicians, with whom the City teams work on a daily basis, do not deny these needs. However, in the current state of things, we risk reaching an impasse without profound change, and without new room for maneuver ”.
To help his neighborhood, Patrick Jarry appealed to the Hauts-de-Seine department, which has a majority in Paris La Défense. “Therefore, it is absolutely essential that a part of the subsidy of thirty million euros paid each year by the department, and in particular the twenty million euros paid in investment, be devoted to the Groues”, adds Patrick Jarry who would also like some of the 115 million euros in revenue from the sale of building rights for The Link, Total’s future headquarters, to go to Les Groues. And the councilor insists that Paris La Défense “has ample means, with cash today reaching no less than 300 million euros”.
Patrick Jarry warns that his neighborhood is now in danger and that if his request was not granted “staying within the scope of the Operation of National Interest (OIN) would then really have no meaning and no interest” for his city . Before concluding: “The city of Nanterre therefore urges the State and the Hauts-de-Seine department to take up their responsibilities as quickly as possible, as it has done itself. It is only on this condition that the development of Les Groues can be done, and be the success that we all expect ”.
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