VIDEO. “It's still not the most elegant entrance to Montpellier”: Avenue de Toulouse opens onto Parc Montcalm and gets some fresh air

After several houses along Rue de Bugarel, it is the turn of old buildings to be demolished on Avenue de Toulouse at the western entrance to the city. The goal: to open up this very urban neighborhood to Parc Montcalm.

The demolition is the attraction of the day. Several residents from the Croix-d’Argent neighborhood committee came to witness the spectacular destruction of the buildings on Avenue de Toulouse on Tuesday, January 28.

Located along the avenue, these buildings will disappear to make way for trees and a pedestrian path to Parc Montcalm. After the first phase of the construction site, the second has begun and will last a few weeks. “We are destroying houses to change the landscape of the neighborhood”, declared the deputy for major works, Laurent Nison, before climbing into the crane to give the first blow of the shovel.

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This project is part of the development of the ZAC Cité créative supported by the Métropole. This new stage allows the Avenue de Toulouse to be oxygenated with a direct entrance to a vast green space. “Our aim is to reopen the neighborhood to this exceptional park in the city”, explained the elected official. Low vegetation trees will be planted so as not to obstruct the opening into the gardens. Other green spaces such as Montmaur, the Bouisses agri-park and the Mosson park will also benefit from new openings in the coming months.

“A belvedere along the avenue”

Opened to the public after the departure of the Infantry Application School (EAI) in 2010, Montcalm Park, which served as a training camp for the military, will undergo a facelift in the coming months while preserving the integrity of the 23-hectare park. Stéphane Jouault, deputy delegate for nature in the city, is delighted:“There will be no construction on it. It's definitely stopped and that's a very good thing.”

At the entrance, a “poetic gate” will serve as a passage. Words will be embedded in the barred gate. The design remains well kept warm for the moment.

This transformation prefigures that of the avenue. “The idea is to work on a kind of belvedere along the Avenue de Toulouse, which is not the most elegant entrance to the city”, believes the mayor of Montpellier Michael Delafosse.

New student housing

In addition to the vegetation of the park, the three buildings of the Parc university campus are currently being renovated. Since 2011 and buildings left vacant by the EAI, the Crous has owned student housing in the Montcalm park. These apartments are notably undergoing an improvement in their thermal performance and will eventually be connected to the biomass boiler room on rue des chasseurs.

The renovation of the first two buildings should be completed by mid-2025, while the third will begin at that time. &Agrave At the end of the work, 168 housing units will be made available to students.

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