The future – currently suspended – of the seniors’ residence project on Boulevard de l’Ayrolle was raised by opposition municipal councillor Karine Haumaitre at the very end of the last council meeting. Councillor Emmanuelle Gazel responded. And clarified points.
“What about the project led by Kaufman & Broad for a seniors residence on Boulevard de l’Ayrolle? Difficulties, of what nature? Delays, to what extent?” The questions of the municipal councillor Karine Haumaitre, epilogue of the last council meeting, were, of course, answered by the mayor of Millau Emmanuelle Gazel.. “This project will not be done as it was imagined under the previous municipal mandate (that of Christophe Saint-Pierre, Editor’s note). And this for many reasons.”
“The first, mentioned by Kaufman & Broad several months ago, concerned the manager of the senior service residence who had finally withdrawn from the project due to the increase, in particular, in the cost of energy and a change in internal policy.” Emmanuelle Gazel recalled, in passing, that the project therefore concerned a senior service residence “whose rents, for the lowest, were around 1200 euros. This was therefore not in line with the financial capacities of the people of Millau.”
Refusal of the Department for approval
The City has “tried to review the project with Kaufman on its content. Not from the architectural point of view which we had already reworked at the start of our mandate, but in relation to the large sums of rent. Kaufman then left for an independent residence in collaboration with a Toulouse real estate developer But the independent residence does not work in exactly the same way as a senior service residence. To balance and reduce costs, departmental approval is necessary.
“The Aveyron departmental council did not wish to give this approval to the project leader, claiming that there was no need in Millau since an EHPAD had recently been built.” Emmanuelle Gazel notes, however, that “aging is a journey and this project is located before the EHPAD. An independent residence concerns people who want to be secure, to be closer to the city center, to have services, a community of life while remaining independent, autonomous .”
A compromise signed at the start of the school year?
The fact remains that, from now on, as the mayor of Millau clearly said: “Kaufman no longer has a project. The compromise, made by Christophe Saint-Pierre, was reached at the end of 2023. Since then, as we are finally free, we have met other developers to offer them to intervene on this emblematic project in the heart of the city. It is urgent. We are working with serious leads with developers who are very interested in Millau.” And the mayor concluded: “I think we will talk about it again at the start of the school year through, I hope, a deliberation project in the municipal council for a compromise with a new developer.”
