the City takes matters into its own hands for the demolition of the former Ozon shopping center

An extraordinary municipal council was convened on the evening of Monday November 18, 2024 in Châtellerault. This involved urgently passing deliberations concerning the wasteland of the Ozon shopping center, Place Churchill, destroyed by fire during the riots in the summer of 2023.

“The residents of Ozon regularly call on us. People say they have been forgotten. We want to show that things are moving and that we are making progress on the subject. If we don’t take control, in five years, we will be at the same point”summarized Mayor Jean-Pierre Abelin.

The City will take charge of part of the demolition

In a very complicated legal matter, where insurance companies are fighting a battle, the City has made two decisions. The first is that it buys for the sum of €12,489 from the three co-owners concerned the lots and the common passage, located from 16 to 22, rue Émile-Georget, to the south of the shopping center. “The municipality will itself destroy this entire space”explain the City services. The cost of the project is estimated at around €80,000.

For the northern part of the shopping center (formerly the tobacconist and post office), the current trustee – Boisson-Leray in Châtellerault – will be responsible for the demolition himself. The City will buy back, at the same price per square meter as in the south (€48), the demolished land for the sum of €56,000.

This double operation will make it possible to better coordinate but above all to accelerate the destruction of this wasteland, probably from the beginning of 2025. “We will submit the building permit tomorrow”we assure from the town hall services.

What’s next? As we know, the municipality wants to create a green space in place of the burned shopping center. But this will not be done without consultation, as the mayor clarified when faced with insistent questions from opposition elected official (Renaissance) David Simon.

We also learned in passing that two businesses have so far agreed to be relocated to the premises set up by Sem Habitat, rue Alfred-de-Vigny (formerly Coop), in this case the café Le Samovar and the Press Hall. There is still one vacant cell.