Major New Development Opportunities, Central Paris

Rare investment opportunities have just been opened up in Paris. Thanks to the local Public Development Council (PDC), Orly-Rungis Seine Amont, two huge areas – 300 hectares each – have been identified for complete redevelopment over the next few years.

The developments have ‘National Interest’ status and are Government backed. This provides comfort to potential investors by giving certainty to the planned infrastructure. It also means legal fast tracking for projects, assisted by the fact that the PDC comprises representatives of the State, the Paris region, the Val de Marne sub-region and 12 local districts.

Les Ardoines

The first development zone, Les Ardoines, centres around a new biotech cluster. Pharmaceutical giants, Sanofi-Aventis have already established operations there, employing 1700 researchers. This large mixed-use development offers investment opportunities in specialist biotech facilities, as well as high-tech industrial, commercial and housing. This will eventually amount to 2,800,000 sq. m. floor space, with the first phase (2011-2020) of 650,000 sq. m. comprising 310,000 sq. m. commercial space and 343,000 residential. There is also the as yet unexplored river freight potential of the location.

A big draw to investors will be the unrivalled accessibility of the Ardoines area. It already boasts two train stations, both to be redeveloped. One of them will become part of the new Paris Expressway, and will link Les Ardoines with La Défense and Charles de Gaulle International Airport.

Orly-Rungis

The second area designated for redevelopment is Orly-Rungis, with five million sq.m of floor space to be developed. The area combines the Orly airport area and the Rungis fresh food cluster – the biggest wholesale fresh food market in the world. Orly airport provides business connections across Europe and within France. It receives 25 million passengers annually and still has high growth potential.

The Orly – Rungis development zone will become an “international gateway” for Paris. New planned infrastructure includes a high speed (TGV) station at the airport for 2020, an intermodal urban carriageway, with integrated tramway.

One of the centrepiece developments at Orly-Rungis is a new 82,000 seat rugby stadium with international conference centre, planned for completion in 2017. Other many and varied projects at this mixed-use development will provide investment opportunities for office space, commercial  premises, housing and 15 hectares of parkland, with a focus on biodiversity.

Orly-Rungis is especially attractive to investors as a development area, due to the large number of people passing through the area. Apart from those using the airport and food market, the Belle Epine retail park is the biggest shopping centre in continental Europe, with 20 million visitors a year and growing.

The PDC will help identify funding and support planning applications for investment in Ardoines and Orly-Rungis. The Orly-Rungis Seine Amont PDC will be at Expo Real, Munich, in October.

For further information, please contact richard [@] edpa.biz, tel 44 (0)207 183 7681 or mobile +44 (0)7880 733 138.