A few articles on Marseille creators pinned on a corkboard next to which stands a publication on the rebirth of the city of Seattle, Rebecca Bernardi, trade assistant, piles the files on her desk. At the top of these, the Canebière, a symbolic artery of the city of Marseilles which it intends to “prepare for change” with great reinforcement from the preemption of commercial cells. A device that allows the town hall to choose which business is set up when a room becomes available and which will be extended to four districts from the end of June.
The municipality has embarked on a policy of pre-emption of commercial cells, why? For what effects?
Without pre-emption, we don’t know what’s going on and the city is reduced to merchandising. Currently, the pre-emption covers an area that goes from Canebière to Breteuil, i.e. 1,000 businesses out of the 14,000 in the city. On the top of Canebière, we are starting to have an action that can be seen. The previous mandate had preempted two premises that we allocated, a cheese dairy and an artisanal sandwich shop, we installed a third, a zero waste kitchen, with a short circuit. On this first part of the top of Canebière, we begin to see, with the Artplex, something taking shape. There is also a project from the L’écletique team which is going to open and two investors who bought a building and called us saying: “we are looking for someone for the commercial unit”. For us, it’s the best equation to have owners who solicit us.
Then there is this environment of Canebière, which with the trams, is undoubtedly the most complicated in terms of public space. There, we did not preempt, but we replaced, it’s almost the same, on the 52, where the owner had signed a lease with Burger and Tacos. We met him, he broke the lease promise and we took the lease for 6 months, the time to launch a call for projects that we will launch on Wednesday. We would like a food business, ideally one with a terrace on both sides. We have the building at number 76, which we also preempted.
La Canebière is undoubtedly the most famous street in Marseille, and yet we don’t stay there, we cross it. It pales in comparison to rue Paradis or rue Saint-Férréol and their many shops. What vision of the Canebière do you have?
Gradually, many banks, which have very beautiful buildings, laboratories, telecom operators have settled, nothing very attractive. There are snacks, but not much to sit down. The most glaring is the lower Canebière which does not have any trade adapted to the use. No one understand.
I am 100% from Marseille and I have never known the great Canebière. So, we went on a historical research since 1900 to see how it was before. What is certain is that we are not going to transform everything and arrive, and say: “It’s 5th Avenue or Time Square”.
It will be the Canebière which has always existed, popular and welcoming, a Canebière where before there were great cafés, bazaars, there were a lot of shops and people on the terrace, and that’s exactly what we want to do again . There are places that must go to the Marseillais. We must be able to eat on the terrace on the Canebière, buy great products, live in the evening, because the Canebière is supposed to be our symbol in fact.
We talk a lot about the attractiveness of Marseille, does cala also follow in terms of shops?
There are investors who have bet on the Canebière. The Sebban group bought 8-10 and the Monoprix building too. There is Viasanté, who asked us for an empty commercial space. So the longer it goes, the more investors we have. The arrival of Big Mama was a bit of a signal for everyone. It works super well, they have a nice terrace. For example, there is the 1083 brand which is looking for a place and which wants to settle on the Canebière and not elsewhere, whereas with their notoriety they could go anywhere, at the Prado.
A consulting firm has been commissioned for a study on village cores, what does it consist of?
To expand the pre-emption zone, a perimeter must already be established and justified. There are 111 village cores in Marseille. But we needed knowledge. What are the families of businesses present? The condition of the storefronts? Who are the people who live there? So there, the AID firm crossed paths with INSEE. This will allow us to submit the premises of the 1st, 3rd, 11th and 15th arrondissements to pre-emption, after a vote on June 24 in the municipal council. And as the year progresses, the other districts will enter, and almost the whole city will be under a pre-emption zone.