When a neighborhood claiming to be ecologically virtuous chases away an activity that is supposed to limit waste. In Pantin, the land near the RER station on which the Réserve des arts has been located since 2014 was sold by the SNCF to the Public Land Establishment of Ile-de-France (Efpip) in December 2020 to build the Grands Quatre Chemins eco-district.
On June 30, the artistic association which recovers, restores and resells cultural industry sets at solidarity prices will have to leave the 3,000 square meter warehouse it occupies.
On this site, a 16-hectare eco-district should see the light of day by 2035. The first pickaxe will be given in September. “We are, potentially, seventy days away from a cessation of activity due to not having premises on which to relocate the activity”, laments Charlène Dronne, director of the Reserve for the Arts. It remains to evacuate the 722 tons of materials (wood, copper, fabrics, polystyrene, etc.) that the association has recovered from its partners.
Rents too high
The future eco-district should have 1,500 housing units (including 33% social), 120,000 square meters of offices, shops, a 2.5 hectare urban park, public facilities and a place in memory of those deported during the second world War.
Asked about the consistency of relocating a social and solidarity activity to create a “green” district, Pantin’s first deputy, Mathieu Monot, nuance: “I understand their concern, but we are not chasing the Reserve of the arts. We work with them to find new ground for them. »
Unsuccessful so far. Couldn’t the association have been integrated into the eco-district project? Hardly, replies the elected official, the rents being too high for their economic model. In order to find a new place and preserve its twenty-nine jobs, the Réserve des arts has published an open letter on its website, signed to date by 1,009 people.