Le Provencal project “will be revived next year”  nicematin.com 09 Dec 10 The project by British property developer Cyril Dennis to transform the abandoned Le Provencal hotel in Juans les Pins could be revived next year. Progress has been virtually halted since the 2008 property crash. Dennis’ company acquired the property in 2006, planning to transform it into 50 residences of 80m2 for the smallest to 900m2 for the largest with plans to sell at an astonishing  €36,000 per square meter. The sales team promised an opening in 2010, before talking about 2012. The financiers have recently met with Juans-les-Pins town hall officials with plans to widely review the project to "better adapt to market requirements."

Instead of the fifty gigantic planned apartments, there will now be seventy smaller units. A new building permit must also be filed in 2011. "We just had our third meeting in a month," said a spokesperson for Cyril Dennis who said that despite appearances, nothing is stationary: "We are working on earthquake standards, basements, the White House and the Museum of Jazz, which should open before summer." The major part of the work however will not begin before the end of 2011, most likely in early 2012. Au G.

Le 'new' Provençal - How it will look

RivieraLife.tv 7 Mar 09 The enormous Le Provençal builidng in Juans Les Pins had lain abandoned and become progressively derelict since 1973. Built in 1925 by the American millionaire Franck Jay Gould, in its art-deco heyday it was a landmark on the French Riviera hosting an array of celebs including Charlie Chaplin, Edith Piaf, Winston Churchill and Ernest Hemmingway. In the early 70s, the staff lobbied for a pay rise and in response its eccentric owner, the Parisian jeweller Alexandre Reza, shut it down, never returned, and refused to sell up... until last year. 

British property developer Cyril Dennis formed a consortium Provençal Investments SA under the direction of Andrea Dennis and acquired Le Provençal announcing a redevelopment project of phaoronic proportions. There is 45,000sq ft of development potential with four acres of gardens. 56 luxury apartments of between 80-700 sq m are priced at between €2-40 million and are being marketed by Savills International. They will have access to spas, beach teepees, helicopters, powerbaots, tennis, the 9 hole golf course in Sophia Antipolis and direct flights to the Courcheval ski-resort in the winter.

The beach will be redeveloped with restaurants and a sushi bar. A boutique hotel is planned in a neighbouring building. On another site there will be more "affordable" apartments, priced between €1.5-6 million. Some have 360-degree views, and indoor pools, as well as outdoor pools and gardens and will be fitted out with Porche kitchens, marble floors, Turkish baths and aquariums. Music, heating, lighting, flowers and shopping can be computer-controlled. Landscaped gardens, replanted each season, will feature fountains, ponds and an infinity pool with a 360m terrace.

This massive project was optimistically slated to open in 2010 with local developers confident that the sub-prime inspired global property crash would not touch the Cote d'Azur, where prices continued to rise well into 2008.

Le 'vieux' Provençal - Back in its glory days

However, rumours have abounded in recent weeks that the project had ground to a halt and even that it was unviable in the current economic climate. To address these rumours, Provençal Investments SA issued a press statement this past week announcing that the project was now 'due for completion 2012'. The statement says, "In the past two months 880 people have visited our site of which 635 were new contacts. In January 34 prospects enquired with our commercial department of which 11 reserved a property." Project Director Les Willimont told the Nice Matin that prudence was 'de rigeur' in the current property market. "We have slowed down the progress of the construction work to adapt to the present climate."

The Saga of Cap Ferrat Zoo

British property developer Robert Bourne has given up on his plans to re-develop the site that until recently housed the Cap Ferrat Zoo, however the future of the land is now up in the air. Local authorities are looking at an institutional buy back of this prime piece of real estate and at who would manage any eventual re-opening of the zoo. Check out the latest news here as we look at a step by step history of the battle to save the zoo.

Bernie Madoff's Riviera Assets

Last year people who had never met Bernie Madoff were queuing up to invest their wealth with him on the promise of secured returns. This year he is the scourge of the investmet world. The big question is how he got away with his $50bn 'Ponzi Scheme' scam for so long. Now US authorities want to seize his assets. His property on Cap d'Antibes is relatively modest valued at $1.6m. Madoff's $7m yacht 'Bull' is moored in the South of France.

Dictators Properties on the Cote d'Azur

The Cote d'Azur has housed a motley crew of dictators and despots. In this section we feature the properties of the late President of Gabon, El Hadj Omar Bongo; Zaire's former dictator Mobuto Sese Seko; Iraqi dictator Sadam Hussein and Belgian King Leopold II.

Russian Oligarchs

Russia's post-Communist super rich businessmen, commonly referred to as the 'oligarchs', have become a fixture on the Cote d'Azur. Many have bought, and sold, some of the most prestigious real estate on the French Riviera. We look at some of the recent deals that have hit the headlines.