The park has long been a paradise for walkers. The gardens of the Château de la Massaye boast explosive vegetation that we owe to a certain Doctor Even. This veterinarian, passionate about botany, bought the estate a hundred years ago to pay tribute to his parents, who had worked there as farmers. Nearly a century later, the Massaye park is still majestic but has lost its splendor due to lack of maintenance. And what about the castle that sits within it? Abandoned, this building has long been coveted but has never been able to find a buyer since the holiday center activities ceased in the 2000s. Before that, the site had notably hosted a training center for the national navy. “For the record… Alain Delon came to study here, in Pont-Réan! », Reports the town hall of Guichen in its presentation of the project.
Located a few kilometers from Rennes, this site ended up catching the eye of an investor, who decided to transform the place. And not just a little! Covering almost ten hectares, the estate was sold to the Parisian real estate group Metis, via its subsidiary Domaine, which aims to completely reconfigure the approximately 3,000 m² of historic buildings. In addition to the castle, abandoned and in the hands of graffiti artists since 2005, the outbuildings and the entire park will be redesigned.
A swimming pool, shared gardens…
The developer, who organized on-site visits for two days, promises sustainable rehabilitation offering “mixed uses” combining “homes, offices, collaborative spaces, workshops, personal services, urban agriculture zones, places to eat, and spaces dedicated to the organization of events”.
Around a hundred wooden housing units will be built in the park, as well as “play areas, a swimming pool and a gym”. The Metis group also promises “the development of landscaped paths in the park, and collaborative vegetable gardens”.
If everything goes as planned, work should start in 2025 with the ambition of delivering the first housing and infrastructure by 2026.
A domain with 1,001 lives
This castle was abandoned in 2005 after the departure of the Rennes hospital center. Meager activities continued until 2014 in a small part of the buildings where a leisure center in the city of Rennes remained established. And since then, nothing. Before that, the Massaye estate had already lived 1,001 lives. First erected as a fortified castle then razed under the orders of Richelieu, it was rebuilt, passing from family to family. In 1927, the botany-mad veterinarian bought it before bequeathing it to the central association of his profession a few years later. Transformed into a training center for the national navy, it was occupied during the Second World War by the Germans, then by the Americans and the English.
Looted, damaged and not maintained, the Château de la Massaye was saved by the sailors, who worked hard to save it. The site then hosted a particularly large branch of the Rennes University Hospital, able to accommodate more than 600 patients and employing around 100 people.
Related News :