“It’s going to be hell.”

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” SO ! Is there anything new? » A blond head calls out to the small group of neighbors stationed under his first floor window. On this Wednesday, November 13, 2024 in rue des Thermopyles in Paris (14th), worried residents are looking for answers to their questions. A meeting is improvised on the pavement as the sun sets.

A bucolic and rural neighborhood

Some learned the news a few days ago, following the district council meeting which took place on Tuesday November 12, 2024. On this occasion and as part of the revision of the local urban plan (PLU), the town hall of the 14th arrondissement has confirmed its choice to favor a type of classification allowing part of the plots to be revegetated and the soil to be de-waterproofed. At the same time, it authorizes to raise the maximum authorized height to 7 meterscompared to 5 meters currently. Something to worry the inhabitants of this district, as bucolic as it is rural.

Two years ago, the real estate developer Terrot bought two abandoned artists' studios at the back of the courtyard at number 37 – 37 bis of the street. He now intends to transform them into furnished tourist accommodation, Airbnb type. Five apartments with six to twelve beds, or 46 beds in total, will be available for short-term rental. There could thus be as many vacationers as residents.

Sunshine, visibility…

The comings and goings of wheeled luggage, the never-ending evenings and VTC parades are the most dreaded hassles. “This court is a sounding board. We're like at the bottom of a canyon », Illustrates Anne-Marie, under her cut of short, blond hair. Having lived in her ground floor apartment for 48 years, she has seen the evolution of this open-air cocoon. “There was an architect in the workshop on the left and a carpenter on the right,” she says before rewinding even further, to the time of rhubarb and flowers grown by the tenants of the two buildings.

Valentin, for his part, is one of the last to have packed his bags here. He chose this green setting to escape the city, in search of “tranquility”. “What worries me most is the noise pollution,” he prepares in his navy blue fleece. “I lived in the 14th already before, near Alésia. I had a neighbor who liked music, especially at night. But the noise was every evening, it was screaming, it was bawling,” he still gets irritated. “The suitcases are going to be hell!” »
adds Capucine next to him.

We could have created shared gardens, artists' studios, housing… If there had been houses with families that would have been good but this is not the case.

Only seven months after moving to rue des Thermopyles, the scaffolding blocked his window for a year of insulation work. “The owner [des deux immeubles, ndlr] had sold these two plots for pay renovation costs», Explains Jean-Paul Armangau, of the Urbanism and Democracy association, which supports the Cœur d'île Thermopyles collective.

This was formed last December to request a modification of the PLU in order to protect the two workshops, with a total surface area of ​​525 m²
in the same way as the other plots on the street. Without this, residents fear an increase in surface area and especially an increase in height. Sunshine and visibility could be compromised.

A tacit agreement from the City

« On a two problems summarizes Nicolas Laruelle mobilized for the collective. The first concerns the PLU, which governs the building permit, and the second concerns the project itself. » Except that with regard to the rehabilitation and the destination of the buildings, no one can, for the moment, oppose the real estate developer.

The latter received tacit agreement from the City of Paris on August 10, 2024, two months after submitting its project to the town planning department.

These plots are in a catastrophic state. No matter the activity, they must be renovated anyway. Our idea of ​​transforming them into tourist accommodation is much less worse than if it had been a cultural center, an industrial site…

“We have no room for maneuver even though we have a dire need for housing. It is a grotesque situation», defends Lamia El Aaraje, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of town planning. According to her, all that remains is to wait for the presentation of a building permit to be able to oppose the construction site. Except that for its part, the Terrot group, which also has interests in around thirty accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad), assures that it does not need a building permit. “We are not going to touch the surface, we are staying within the existing template,” underlines the president of the group, Samuel Gelrubin.

The Cœur d’île Thermopyles collective does not prefer to rely on the word of the real estate developer. “If it remains in the envelope, there is therefore no need to increase the PLU,” argues Nicolas Laruelle. A petition was therefore launched on November 7 and is already collecting more than 1,200 signatures.A way, according to Nicolas Laruelle, to maintain “pressure” on the City of Paris which finally announced the re-examination of the project a week later.

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