Nîmes real estate developers facing a very unclear economic context

Le projet Porte de France porté par Tissot et GGL sera commercialisé à partir de fin avril 2025. Tissot

Les promoteurs immobiliers nîmois constatent les difficultés du moment notamment pour commercialiser leurs programmes.

Real estate developers in Nîmes are facing a situation of economic crisis and political instability that have not served the local market. “We are suffering terribly because we are experiencing a real crisis on a national scale” , developer Olivier Bonicel does not hide. The latter mentions political instability to explain the current difficulties “which is hampering the confidence of investors, of those who want to access property.”

According to the head of OB Développement, even business leaders have been put off by the context, which has negatively impacted the office market. “Rates have fallen but are still high” , Olivier Bonicel specifies. With other associates, he did not go any further in his project of rehabilitating the former Cheval Blanc hotel without it being linked to the state of the market.

Housing to be filled

The latter gives some examples of the difficulties encountered with his program on rue Roussy: “Three housing units are having trouble selling.” Same problem for Le Clos de la Fontaine which will be delivered next April on avenue Jean-Jaurès, near place Jules-Guesde: “We still have four housing units in stock. We are having trouble selling them.” And this despite the good standing of this residence. Olivier Bonicel does not see the situation unblocking before the 2027 presidential election. Until then, for many developers, it will be necessary to keep their heads down.

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For his part, Romain Tissot has decided, with partners such as GGL, to take his share of the risk by launching the marketing of 63 housing units (from T1 to T4), with service premises on the ground floor (which could accommodate the Delon Soubeyran nursery) and three levels of parking in the Porte de France sector.

Attracting investors

It will benefit from pedestrianization and the opening of the h2 conference center. “I have some concerns before launching the marketing. We have assets because the neighborhood, which is being renovated, will be very attractive. But we know that the real estate market is driven by investors. The key to our success will also be to attract them, but everything is on hold due to the political instability and there is no longer the Pinel system (tax reduction on the purchase price of a rental property, Editor's note).”

Romain Tissot is waiting for a sign from politicians at the national level to facilitate the completion of real estate programs, also aware of the chain of difficulties announced with the difficulty of the construction sector. In the meantime, the program carried out with GGL, Porte de France sector, will be the subject of archaeological excavations from the end of January and this for a period of five to six months.

Other projects remain on hold, like that of the FDI promotion program at the Triangle de la gare. The Vareni residence with 90 housing units was to be delivered at the end of 2026. Contacted, the FDI team announced that this would not be the case. Given the context which does not help, the project will be “reworked, with a new distribution of the number of housing units”. The site will therefore remain a wasteland open to the four winds for quite some time to come…

On the site of the former Le Forum cinema, a wasteland in the absence of housing construction in early 2025. Midi Libre – Y. B.

Rue Poise, on the site of the former Le Forum cinema, the housing program is no longer led by OB Développement but by Urbat. The construction site of Patio Romana, the name of the program (about ten apartments), does not seem to be progressing since the demolition of the building in 2023. We will not know more because Urbat did not respond to our requests. For the time being, a wasteland has replaced the old movie theater.

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