After shifting endlessly between rehabilitation and reorientation, the ‘Rue de la République’ has now become one of Marseilles’ main arteries, the embodiment of the Phocaean city’s new developments and lease of life. The ‘Rue de la République’ is located in the 1st and 2nd arrondissements of Marseilles; it used to be called the ‘rue Impériale’, and connects the symbolic Vieux-Port (old port) and the place de la Joliette. This Haussman style main artery neighbours the ‘Panier’ quarter and links the historic city centre with the Euroméditerranée, the city’s new business quarter, already seen as the very symbol of its entry into the 21st century. The ‘rue de la République’ is more than just a passage or transition zone, it is becoming a destination in itself. It is not just a road, it is quarter in its own right.
This reinvention and reinvigoration of the ‘Rue de la République’ has been conceived and implemented, in collaboration with the other involved parties, by Primonial REIM, a long-term investor who acquired a 127,000 m2 portfolio in the road at the end of 2017. At the heart of Primonial REIM’s project for the ‘Rue de la République’ lies a strong conviction and clear ambition: to completely reinvent this mixed group of assets that includes housing, retail and office properties, by creating a diverse offer in keeping with the expectations of its users and residents (families, students, employees and tourists). Primonial REIM has worked in close collaboration with its local partner Constructa Asset Management (CAM), a subsidiary of the Constructa Group, to implement this action plan.
The commercial planning has this been completely refigured to gradually orient promotion efforts towards local commerce (snack-bars, restaurants, furniture/deco, D.I.Y., well-being, etc.) and new urban concepts. In addition to this, project budgets have been mobilised on a five year basis to accelerate this new dynamic and increase the quarter’s attraction. A jointly conceived a roadbook, a kind of white paper for this fundamentally symbolic project, has been widely distributed amongst local businesses and City/Metropolitan Area services.
Grégory Frapet, Chairman at Primonial REIM: “We are deeply convinced of the high potential of the ‘Rue de la République’ and more globally of the city of Marseilles and its real estate market. The ‘Rue de la République’ is more than just a real estate investment. We have worked in very close collaboration with the city authorities and all of the involved parties to develop our ambition of creating a strong identity for the ‘Rue de la République’ by reinventing this real estate, that we manage on behalf of our own investors, with a more inclusive approach. We intend to develop a mixed offer, oriented around local commerce, in keeping with the expectation of inhabitants and an essential part of Marseilles’ identity.
“ Marc Pietri, Chairman of the Constructa Group: “Life in Marseilles is about cafés, bistros, places where people can meet up and that us what needs to be recreated here. To begin with, we will need to recreate a quarter with a soul, a context and a history. Before gradually moving on to creating new opportunities, we need to recreate the quarter and its community. “
And we are already starting to see the results, new businesses are opening, there are signs of deployment on the ‘rue de la République’, symbols of its new lease of life.
Including:
• The urban concept store GIFI - which reinvents interiors in an off-the-wall but always accessible way - is the 3rd of its kind in France to open up in a metropolis. GIFI opened the doors of its 1363 m2 premises to the public on the 21 August;
• La Maison de la Viande a quality traditional butcher shop opened on 11 July this year, between Naturalia and Picard making this stretch a “good food” destination for local inhabitants and the quarter’s thousands of employees;
• Bagelstein, the specialist in New York-style bagels, opened on 15 July having chosen the ‘Rue de la République’ for its first outlet in Marseilles and Maison de l’habitat opened 30 January 2019.
As for office space, nearly 1,000 m2 of office space (non-retail) have been leased in small and medium sized units to small businesses and start-ups in search of central locations and direct links with the local community.
As for events, an ever increasing number of successes have set the quarter up in a constant live wire of energy: There has been 2 editions of Plantes Pour Tous with nearly 5,000 entrants over 3 days each year; La Place (1 Sadi Carnot) and its concept store, with a trendy antique store, works of art and a bar in the evenings. Not forgetting the Gastronomic street during the summer months, as part of the MPG 2019 operation with the installation of a Literary Café, an Ephemeral Restaurant “L’inclassable’ and a Chefs’ hall proposing haute cuisine cookery lessons.
And in the future, thanks to its strategic location, its new look and new dynamic, the République quarter will benefit from upcoming urban development projects.
The ‘rue de la République’ is the main artery and quarter that crosses the city centre and neighbours the Euroméditerranée project, Southern Europe’s largest urban operation (480 hectares, 40,000 inhabitants)1. The ‘Rue de la République’ is located in the heart of Marseilles’ new cultural and artistic facilities, the MUCEM, the FRAC, the Marseilles Centre of Photography, and well connected with public transport; it is becoming an iconic and accessible location in the heart of Marseilles. Today more than 37,000 new jobs have been created by the Euromed Center, the TLM and the Docks. And with Euromed 2 set for 2030, there will be 30,000 new inhabitants and 20,000 new jobs are expected to be created1.
1 Source: https://www.euromediterranee.fr/
About Primonial REIM
Primonial Real Estate Investment Management (Primonial REIM) is a portfolio management company certified by the AMF in 2011; it creates and manages a range of investment schemes based on strong property market convictions. Its main objective is to propose a range of SCPI that invest in office, retail, health/education and residential property to the broadest possible client-base.
As a portfolio management company Primonial REIM sets up and manages OPCI (specifically aimed at either institutional or general public investors). On 10 June 2014 Primonial REIM received AIFM (Alternative Investment Fund Manager) certification from the Autorités des Marchés Financiers (Financial Markets Regulator), and is therefore subjected to strengthened obligations in terms of information, liquidity monitoring and risk management. The Board of Directors includes Grégory FRAPET as Chairman, Stéphanie LACROIX, Managing Director and Tristan MAHAUT, General Secretary.
About Constructa
CONSTRUCTA is an independent, family-run property services Group that has been in existence since 1964. It proposes its expertise and experience to private, institutional and local government clients.
They have significant expertise in property holding diversification, new environmental approaches, sustainable buildings and cost management.
CONSTRUCTA is strategically active in all of the real estate markets of major metropolitan centres such as Paris, Lyon, Marseilles, Cannes and Geneva. With a total staff of 200, this international group generates an annual turnover of 250 million euro.
The group has 3 main expertise centres: real-estate promotion, property management and transaction. As a multi-discipline property services company it benefits from a proven and reputed “major projects” expertise. Its diversity is a major strength in its ability to manage large-scale mixed usage projects.
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