Will the Contis cinema be the victim of Real estate speculation?

“Let’s save the Contis cinema. » This is the slogan of a group of Contissois, who launched a petition since Sunday April 21 which garnered the favor of almost 8,000 signatories and shone the spotlight on this building whose future is uncertain.

“The priority is that the 29^e edition of the Contis Film Festival can be done,” Gilles Ducout immediately specifies. Mayor of Saint-Julien-en-Born, the town to which the coastal hamlet of Contis is attached, he knows the value that this annual cultural event can have for the prestige of the seaside resort.

“We have heard the subject of cinema sales since we took over the festival. For now, we remain focused on the work that remains to be done for this 29^e edition, hoping that this will not be the last”, comments Mathias Fournier, co-general delegate of this meeting now organized by the Contis, culture and cinema association.

Demolition permit

This name could, however, quickly prove to be obsolete, in view of a permit to demolish the cinema granted to SCI Piste n° 4, the owner of the premises (1), following its request filed on January 17, 2023. “J had issued an unfavorable opinion. But I was obliged to sign this decree because I had no legal means to oppose it, following the instruction given by the services of Côte Landes Nature and the architect of Bâtiments de France,” notes the mayor of Saint-Julien-en-Born.

As he explained orally to the citizens of Contis at the origin of the petition to save the cinema, the municipality’s concern for this building does not date from this spring. As early as January 2021, its Council already raised the possibility of repurchasing this 800 square meter plot, occupied by a 270-seat cinema opened in 1962. “A permit to demolish the cinema does not prevent it from Then there will be the reconstruction of a cinema,” says Gilles Ducout.

“It is obvious that we are working and that we will seek to pre-empt the land, under conditions which remain to be defined”

Following two estimates carried out by France Domaines, the municipality of Saint-Julien-en-Born even made two offers. “The last proposal dates from July 2023,” confides the mayor. The estimate was 390,000 euros and the community was ready to buy the cinema for 650,000 euros. »

This desire to perpetuate the history of the cinema of Contis, the elected officials of Saint-Julien-en-Born also demonstrated it through the vote of the municipal budget relating to the financial year started and a forecast investment plan covering up to in 2032: “500,000 euros for a forecast of productions in 2024, and 800,000 euros for a forecast of productions in 2025, because we are definitely on an acquisition and investment project for this cinema. »

Real estate development

This desire could, however, be thwarted by the capitalistic reality of the real estate market, which makes each square meter put up for sale on the Landes coast a potential Source of income for developers. “No building permit has yet been filed,” assures the mayor of Saint-Julien-en-Born.

The fact remains that a “sale project has been initiated”, confirms Gilles Ducout. Without wanting to say much more: “It is obvious that we are working and that we will seek to pre-empt the land, under conditions which remain to be defined. »

This legal action offered to mayors in order to get ahead of another buyer, the municipality of Saint-Julien-en-Born will have two months to undertake it, from the dates on which the declaration of intention to alienate reaches the town hall following the signing of a sales agreement.

This could even have already taken place, according to what “Sud Ouest” has learned from corroborating sources. It would cover both the cinema plot and the 700 square meters of its neighbor, corresponding to the seller’s home, for an amount which would amount to 1.8 million euros.

Thus confirming the fears of the Contissois having opened the petition and launched a participatory kitty in order to support the municipality of Saint-Julien-en-Born, this project would be carried by a neighbor of the premises, owner of a house and already at the origin several other constructions in the coastal hamlet.

(1) SCI Piste n° 4, represented by Rainer Wothe, as the possible buyer, did not respond to our requests made by telephone.