Saint-Nazaire : a breath of fresh air

Traditionally focusing on port activities, the aeronautical and naval industries, this Breton town in the Massif Armoricain is brushing up its image. Treating its neighbourhoods to a facelift, the second largest agglomeration in the “département” and fourth largest in the region is also endowing itself with cultural, leisure and reception facilities.

At the edge of the Regional Nature Park of Brière on the right bank of the Loire, 50 km west of Nantes, Saint-Nazaire is home to 66,350 residents, 153,000 in its urban area. 5,000 students attend its university campus. The municipality is looking to re-orient the urban area towards its historic base, in other words, the port. The immediate area around the railway station is gradually being transformed into a business centre, while the west side of town in undergoing massive rehabilitation.

“The electric Hélyce bus service introduced in September is encouraging people to use public transport and revolutionizing the way they see the town,” say Muriel Mazeau and Lizzie Fouilhoux of Mazeau Immobilier. “It takes just six minutes to reach the Town-hall from the station, 15 minutes to get to the Cité Sanitaire from the centre. Along the route, renovation work is going full steam ahead. The distinction one can draw between the three sub-areas, Ville-Gare, Ville-Port and Ville-Ouest, says a great deal about this ambitious project.” Locals are witnessing the renaissance of Ville Ouest. Before 2008, 95 % of this western enclave consisted of council housing, as compared with 50 % now planned for the medium term. 600 lots have been torn down, 1,400 rehabilitated and 1,000 private units newly built. The potential is clear to see. With the sea only 800 metres away, the Cité Sanitaire is developing a total surface area of 93,000 m2 with 800 beds. Entirely redesigned, the healthcare centre is a job provider and a source of a new in-coming population. Its impact is easy to confirm on the rental market. “Les Allées du Chêne”, a development currently being delivered in L’Immaculée, will welcome its first tenants in January, 2013, a third of them working at the hospital. Ville-Port is laid out around the Ruban Bleu shopping centre. The inauguration of a theatre with 830 seats in October further demonstrates the cultural dynamism of Saint-Nazaire. 13,000 m2 of office premises and a car-park with 300 places are being built in Ville-Gare. Some buyers even work in Nantes, accessible by train in only 25 minutes. Finally, the Nantes Atlantique airport, scheduled for 2017, could have a positive effect on economic growth. 800 people should be employed on the site, 2,500-3,000 once it is up and running. It is expected to cater for 9 million passengers per year. The opening up of the region to international traffic is imminent. Estate agencies are seeing fewer first-time buyers than in the past, and the same goes for investors who only take the plunge if they can obtain a significant return. On the other hand, retirees from other “départements” are discovering this address benefiting from extensive transformation. They first note its appreciable geographic location, 3 hours on the TGV from Paris and a few minutes from the beaches of Pornichet, La Baule and Saint-Brévin. Saint-Nazaire proposes very attractive 2-bedroom apartments on the seafront for less than 250,000 € and 5-bedroomed houses very close to the sea at 450,000 €, a budget rarely attainable by local buyers. For houses, 300,000 € seems to be a psychological barrier, though the overall price schedule proves to be genuinely appealing. Among their most recent transactions, our estate-agents mention a house of 110 m2 on an estate less than 10 years old, with a garden of 350 m2, priced at 235,000 € ; a 3-bedroomed apartment of 106 m2 with a balcony and garage in the Hôtel de Ville neighbourhood, at 230,000 € ; an apartment with 3/4 main rooms facing the sea, on the 6th floor of a large 1970’s residence, at 227,000 € ; and a new low-energy BBC house of 80 m2 with a garden of 323 m2, at 189,000 €. By moving slightly out from the centre, young first-time buyers can obtain a satisfactory ratio in terms of value for money.

David Meheust of Thierry Immobilier points to a 15-20 % drop in prices for post-war accommodation, poorly insulated and lacking lifts or garages. New offerings are also seeing lower prices, due to the plethora of supply as compared to demand. Inevitably, older properties enter into competition and are also obliged to lower their prices, just like the “Nantaise” with its famous first-floor living-room. To ensure a sale, owners must imperatively lower their expectations. The radical changes in the town’s urban landscape augures well for a sunny future. However, David Meheust regrets the closing of shops in the centre and the disappearance of well-known stores which are relocating in the outskirts. Saint-Nazaire can in fact be seen as a fall-back market for Nantes. A 3-bedroomed house built in the 1960’s or 1970’s costs 200,000 € in the first, 300,000 € in the prefecture of Loire-Atlantique. For Saint-Nazaire, the stakes involved over the next few years depend on the way the transition will be managed in a relatively tense overall climate. A bet on the future... tinged with optimism.

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