the residents of the Jardin des Plantes want to bring life back to Basille Fleurs
This is a new way of fighting for the inhabitants of the Jardin des Plantes district in Rouen. A new way to fight against the project of a real estate developer. He plans to raze 40 rue de la Mare du Parc to build a building 17 meters high. The locals have been against it from the start. They wanted this Saturday to show that the site deserves to be preserved.
“We already have ideas to transform this shop”
On this occasion, they transformed the place into an ephemeral bar. A first for this site, which has been closed since January 2021.”We can imagine a bar or a cultural place, a concert hall. It is also a district that lacks traders. We can also imagine a garden, there is a nursery. There are other projects than an apartment building“, comment Alexandre and Eric.
“I live just nextdoor. My garden will overlook the building that will be built. I am involved in bringing this place to life. I’m a musician, we’re going to concerts. There I hold the bar. The site must be something other than an old abandoned building slated for destruction. The architecture is mind-blowing. There really is a way to do a lot of things.“, explains Benjamin.
We are facing a jewel of the city, it is a real problem to build this kind of building – Jean-Michel Bérégovoy, deputy in charge of the environment at the town hall of Rouen
“We want to show that the neighborhood doesn’t want this building. We need a place to live in which we find ourselves where we do lots of things. We can project ourselves into the greenhouses, people see that there is room to make a collective nursery for example. We have already set up a project that we presented to the town hall and to the metropolis. We are looking for funding now. And we hope to have a favorable result“, details Ingrid Hoh, at the initiative of the “collective 40” of the name of the street of this building.
Because the old Basille Fleurs shop is not concerned. Behind is a house that dates from the 19th century. Between the two, green spaces, a small pond and an ecosystem that the inhabitants of the district want to preserve. However, the real estate developer, owner of the premises, can start the work at any time.