Euriméditerranée: a shining star on the international stage

Today, Euroméditerranée is one of the largest urban renovation project in Europe, a success earmarked for further expansion in 2010.

Euroméditerranée, one of the largest planning and economic development projects underway in Europe, celebrates 10 years of success. The business and leisure district of la Joliette symbolises the whirlwind success of Marseille and the Euroméditerranée programme. Facing onto the sea, opposite the Frioul archipelago, the district’s transformation looks set to turn it into the defining feature of Marseille by 2010, on a par with Manhattan in New York, the CN Tower in Toronto or the Sydney Opera House. Alongside of leading companies (CMA-CGM, Compass Group, NYK, Futur Telecom, BNP Paribas, Société Générale), international organisations are also establishing themselves (Ubifrance, Anima, the ITER Mission, the World Water Council).

In 2006 and even though half-complete, the programme is already delivering more than it promised. Within the 310 hectare Euroméditerranée complex, Marseille has attracted 750 new enterprises and generated a business district with 11,000 employees, delivered 2,100 new homes and begun the renovation of 2,300 homes. With 300 million euros of state investment and a further 1 billion euros of private investment, Euroméditerranée has become a favoured destination of major investors: America’s Starwood Capital and Lonestar, the Netherlands’ ING and Forum Invest, Germany’s Oppenheim, France’s Axa Reim, BNP Paribas and Caisse d’Epargne. France’s most prestigious architects are shaping the new face of Marseille: Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel, Yves Lion, Massimiliano Fuksas, Rudy Ricciotti and Jean-Paul Viguier.

First-rate facilities add structure to this development project:

• • Euromed Center with a 4-star Marriot hotel and plush convention centre, as well as a multiplex cinema managed by EuropaCorp, the company of director and producer Luc Besson.
• • A sizeable share of La Cité de la Méditerranée will be set aside for culture; the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations, to be constructed in the shadow of Fort-Saint-Jean; le Silo, formerly a disused grain silo soon to be transformed into a 2,200-seat entertainment centre.
• • The Regional Centre of Mediterranean Culture, devoted to artistic creation.
• • The Municipal Archives, a place of preservation and consultation dedicated to the history of Provence.
• • ‘Les Terrasses du Port’ will feature a 41,000 m2 shopping and leisure complex (swimming pool, beach soccer stadium…) directly overlooking the Port.
• • The majestic 145 m high tower which will house the future head office of CMA-CGM, the world’s third biggest shipbuilder, looks set to become the centrepiece symbolising the city’s revival.
• • The Belle de Mai Media Park, where 23,000 m2 are dedicated to the cinema, audiovisual and multimedia industries.