One month away from the regional and departmental elections (June 20 and 27), the subject is eminently thorny.
When it comes to evoking the fate of Île Seguin, which has passed from one promoter to another for the past fifteen years, the mayor of Boulogne-Billancourt, Pierre-Christophe Baguet (LR), walks on eggs.
At the beginning of April, the DBS consortium (Développement Boulogne Seguin), which had signed a promise to sell in August 2019 for the development of the central part of the island, was dismissed for non-compliance with its commitments in terms of schedule. At the end of last year, Hines, Icade and Vinci, who make up the consortium, were notably required to present a building permit purged of any appeal. It was not the case.
On April 9, a new agreement was signed between the town planner, the SPL Val de Seine Aménagement, and Bouygues.
According to our information, the offer of the group led by Martin Bouygues is, among other things, financially more advantageous than that of DBS (329 million euros) and covers the same area.
That is 4.2 hectares between the downstream point, where the musical Seine is located, and the upstream, which should host a contemporary art foundation by 2023 supported by the real estate group Emerige.
Bouygues would be the actor, the constructor ... and the occupant
However, the project is still very vague.
A number of architects have been auditioned and are currently working on a concept.
But it is understood that the heart of the old Renault liner will still house offices: the financial balance of the SPL Val de Seine Aménagement and therefore of the city depends on it.
In this post-Covid context, where the future of offices is in doubt, Bouygues presents another major advantage compared to DBS: the group will not only be the buyer and builder but also the occupant.
The magazine “Challenges” had mentioned the possible installation of the Bouygues Télécom headquarters, then of its campus.
The first information was denied.
The group and the municipality refuse for the moment to any comment.
According to the information available to "the Parisian", one of the Bouygues subsidiaries, already present in Boulogne-Billancourt and which has just expanded, could set up on this much coveted land.
Our eyes are therefore turned 3 kilometers from the island, on the Point-du-Jour quay.
Urban planning measures to be respected
TF 1, which has just acquired a 30% stake in M6, is it planning to build its future media hub next to the musical Seine, which the channel already operates with Sodexo?
TF 1, through the voice of its former CEO Nonce Paolini, had already mentioned the possibility of moving its offices, but ten years ago.
For the time being, the merger between TF1 and M6 is far from certain and the hypothesis concerning Seguin Island remains open.
Pierre-Christophe Baguet will not say a word about it.
The mayor however wants to reassure: “The general outline of the island will remain the same.
It will necessarily respect the orientation of development and programming agreed at the end of the mediation procedure between the city and associations validated by the president of the administrative court of Cergy-Pontoise ”.
This agreement concluded between the town hall and four associations - Actions environnement Boulogne-Billancourt (AEBB), Boulogne Environnement, Val de Seine Vert, Vivre à Meudon - and ratified in December 2018, provides for several urban planning measures which cannot in fact be derogated from. possible future promoters of Île Seguin.
A building permit granted at the end of 2020
Bouygues will therefore have to deal with a buildability limited to 230,000 square meters for the entire island, given the fact that the contemporary art foundation is planned for 38,000 square meters and that the musical Seine already extends over 36,500 square meters. The concept of a car-free island remains, as does the creation of a 15,000-meter public garden on the Meudon side. Five “visual and pedestrian openings” 20 meters wide to “ventilate” the space; a strictly limited height of the buildings (74 meters) and the presence of a single large construction (96 meters) complete the protocol.
In this context, it is possible that Bouygues will take over the building permit granted in November 2020 to DBS and which was the subject of multiple meetings with the SPL. “We had until the end of 2020 to have a license purged of any appeal. We have not honored this commitment. We have obtained additional delays. We still wanted to have an extension until the end of the year or at least until the summer because it was clear that we would not have resolved these appeals before the regional ones ”, regrets Jean-François Gueullette, president of DBS.
Because the project was moving forward despite everything. The president ensures that prospects of potential future buyers were in progress and discussions with the applicants had begun. The city has decided otherwise. “We couldn't wait another five years for Île Seguin. We had to move forward because we have to do everything at the same time. There is the foundation of art to take into account. I defend the interests of Boulonnais above all, ”assumes Pierre-Christophe Baguet.
