French luxury goods group LVMH has announced plans to invest EUR 450 mln to convert the landmark La Samaritaine department store in Paris into a mixed-use complex with a Cheval Blanc hotel. The development is said to be the largest privately funded construction project ever undertaken in Paris.
French luxury goods group LVMH has announced plans to invest EUR 450 mln to convert the landmark La Samaritaine department store in Paris into a mixed-use complex with a Cheval Blanc hotel. The development is said to be the largest privately funded construction project ever undertaken in Paris.
La Samaritaine property, an Art Deco building on the right bank of the Seine dating from 1870, was closed down in 2005, after the building fell afoul of safety codes.
LVMH has now applied for planning permission for the redevelopment of the complex, which will be transformed into a 80-room luxury hotel, with adjacent offices, apartments, and shops. Construction is planned to begin in July 2012, with completion targeted for mid-2014.
The 70,000-m2 project will comprise the historic La Samaritaine building, and three adjacent properties, which will house 26,000 m2 of retail space, 20,000 m2 of offices, some 95 apartments and a nursery. Some 2,400 jobs will be created, LVMH said. Japanese architecture firm Sanaa, which worked on the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, has designed the complex.
'This ambitious project will project la Samaritaine into the XXIst century,' said LVMH finance chief Jean-Jacques Guiony.
