In Nantes, the sinking of the legendary club boat of a former cultural project

The Figaro Nantes

The Tug was, about fifteen years ago, a legendary club boat in the city center of Nantes. The pretty boat, a 26-meter-long R7 with a red chimney, had experienced a second youth six years ago, craned onto the site of the former Rezé slaughterhouses, on the outskirts of the city of the dukes. Installed dry, the former discotheque has become the totem of Transfert, a “free zone of art and culture” of 15 hectares, supported by the metropolis. And then this ephemeral project ended. The installations packed up; the boat stayed. It’s been two years since the Tug is wasting away, wrinkled with graffiti and crumpled with dirt over the course of bad weather and clandestine parties. The freshwater vessel is dying a slow death. A fire broke out on this century-old building, following an intrusion during the night of Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 August. Controlled in the morning, the disaster reminded the people of Nantes of the existence of this former pearl of Nantes evenings. A glory now in full sinking.

Pilot of the Transfert project on behalf of Nantes Métropole, the cultural association Pick-up Production had acquired the Tug in 2018, for 130,000 euros. She is now looking to get rid of it. Quickly. “We have until December 31, 2024 to vacate the land,” indicates its director, Nicolas Reverdito. The sector, now closed, must very soon be invested by part of the construction site of the future concerted development zone (ZAC) of Pirmil – Les Isles, supposed to grow 3300 housing units on a complex of 58 hectares, by 2029. Small problem: the association which owns the boat is struggling to find a buyer. Put up for sale on Leboncoin, the building is being negotiated for 50,000 euros. A sum likely to double, at least, due to the crane and transport costs that the potential new captains will have to advance, to move the Tug. Not to mention cleaning and maintenance costs.

A heartbreak

So many conditions which have cooled the handful of serious buyers who have been interested in the vessel over the last two years. “We are ready to sell it for a symbolic euro to a passionate project leader”says Nicolas Reverdito. In the absence of a buyer, his association will have to resolve to dismantle this former 150-ton Nantes institution. A real heartbreak. “It would be a shame to destroy it, while its structure and hull remain in good condition, and it is still able to floatcontinues the director of Pick-up Production. We would much rather have someone take the boat on a new adventure.”

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In any case, the association can hardly count on hard cash from Nantes Métropole. The majority socialist community – led by Johanna Rolland – was quick to finance the Transfert project, showering it with public money. 12 million euros to be precise. The sum made it possible to support 790 cultural structures, including 93 artistic residencies, and to welcome 550,000 visitors in five years. However, the floodgates have closed. According to Pick-up Production, the metropolis would remain «attentive» to the future of Tug. But no more. As a sign of unease, the town of Rezé, which until recently said it wanted to find a quick solution to this cumbersome issue, now prefers to refer it back to its supervisory authority without further comment. “This story was a fiasco from start to finish, it’s a shame for the Tug, which seems to be well on its way to ending up in the scrapyard today”regrets Julien Bainvel, opposition member of the metropolitan council.

A foggy becoming

At the end of Transfert, in September 2022, the city of Nantes had announced that discussions would take place on the reuse of this piece of local festive history. These have clearly come to nothing, like the ambition of“eco-construction” of the Transfer project, initially conceived as “a cultural and artistic laboratory for the territory”. The reuse of other Transfer structures within an urban art block also fizzled out. The dialogue on “the city’s factory” announced between the cultural stakeholders and the developers of the ZAC never came to fruition – even if the Nantes deputy for culture, Aymeric Seassau, was satisfied at the time with a “successful experiment”.

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Asked about this, Nantes Métropole repeated that the boat was the property of Pick-up Production and that“no specific aid has been earmarked for the Tug, even if the Metropolis supported the financing of the dismantling of Transfert». Four months before the deadline for the liberation of the former Rezé slaughterhouses, the community is still ensuring “pay particular attention and conduct, in view of the importance of this heritage for the City and the Metropolis, a reflection on its future.”

While waiting for the future of the Tug is unlocked, the area of ​​the former Transfert project has frozen into a wasteland squatted by various types of prowlers. According to a police source, this isolated space is popular with party-goers looking for peace and quiet, a few shady figures and Roma, established in a nearby camp. These shadows alone keep alive, at nightfall, the last sparks of the festive spirit of the old tugboat. As long as it still floats.