Dubbed Ugliest Paris Building, Tour Montparnasse Renovation Put on Hold
The €800million renovation plan envisioned transforming the 59-storey building into an eye-catching glass tower, featuring garden terraces with a hotel and shops, as well as a rooftop greenhouse
More than three-quarters of the co-owners of the tower in the south of Paris rejected a project that has been on the table since 2015, according to one of the investors, who asked not to be named, in comments to AFP.
The €800million renovation plan envisioned transforming the 59-storey building into an eye-catching glass tower, featuring garden terraces with a hotel and shops, as well as a rooftop greenhouse.
The 210m edifice, which was completed in 1973, has long been the butt of jokes among Parisians – notably that it has the best view of Paris, as its top is the one place in the city where the tower cannot be seen.
Co-owners rejected a first phase of renovation for asbestos removal, interior stripping, and partial facade removal in a vote at an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, September 23rd.
It was the last opportunity to launch the project before the building permit granted for the tower’s renovation expires at the end of November.
There had been tensions over the project between the co-owners, who include French investment funds and insurers, as well as concerns over the cost.
A far-less ambitious renovation project notably including asbestos removal may now be on the cards.
“We would like all the co-owners, financial partners, and public authorities to meet soon to examine all the solutions to transform the Montparnasse Tower,” four co-owners who still want a renovation, including the tycoon Xavier Niel, said in a joint statement.
Philippe Goujon, the right-wing mayor of Paris’s 15th district where the tower is located, urged reason.
“Everyone needs to come to their senses,” he said. “I cannot accept seeing a project that took 10 years to develop thrown away, or allowing this world-renowned landmark to fall into neglect.”
The newspaper Le Parisien described the reversal as a “fiasco”.
The morning news show on the TF1 television broadcaster Thursday made the tower its “face of the day”, saying it was “ugly... and for the long term!”
