The mayor of Nice wants a luxury hotel to replace the Foch police station, the green left demands public housing or a nursing home

A luxury hotel in place of the Foch police station? Christian Estrosi's remarks had – almost – gone unnoticed... Not among the left-wing ecologists, gathered in anticipation of the upcoming elections, who were jumping for joy and describing it as "a bombshell" from a mayor who is "very good at communication, but much less so at action."

"The city was taken from the people of Nice"

On July 10, the mayor (Horizons) of Nice, in a neighborhood meeting modeled on "The floor is yours," these meetings that he is increasing in the run-up to the municipal elections, gave his opinion on the future of the building that houses the Foch police station.

The walls will soon be emptied of their occupants with the opening of the police station, expected at the end of the year. Speaking to local residents, Christian Estrosi expressed the hope that "whoever acquires the building could instead be a hotel establishment, which would prevent us from having a real estate development there, which would also bring us a number of inconveniences."

Understand: he would like the State, the owner, to sell the site with the aim of making it a hotel. "Yet another hotel!" raged the Ecologists, the Socialist Party, the PCF 06 and Place publique, the citizen political movement of Raphaël Glucksmann, in chorus.

"The city as we know it today has been taken away from the people of Nice. One in two beds is dedicated to tourism," says Julien Picot, the leader of the Côte d'Azur communists.

"Building a hotel is out of step with the real needs of the population, which lacks housing, especially social housing," he said, criticizing "the choices of the right."

"Build public housing"

"Instead of creating a new tourist attraction, there are much more interesting things to do, such as creating public housing, in a city that is lacking, and the prefect knows this," continues Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux, the leader of the Green opposition to the City and the Metropolis.

A letter was also sent to Laurent Hottiaux, the state representative in the Alpes-Maritimes. "Christian Estrosi, who claims to be concerned about overtourism and goes to the Villefranche harbor to board a cruise ship, recommends that the state allow the construction of a hotel complex in the city center while there are more than 27,000 social housing applications pending! This is pure hypocrisy. Housing must be a priority," insists Patrick Allemand for the Socialists.

" Nice has already opened 4,000 hotel rooms in recent years, and some are struggling to fill up. That's enough," adds the Green Party leader.

The garden bought by the City?

And everyone also mentioned the problem of the elderly: "We also lack nursing homes and even daycare centers."

According to the Green Left, in the national police building, located at 1 Avenue du Maréchal Foch, "it is possible to build between 30 and 40 housing units, with a good ceiling height."

The police station also has a garden adjacent to the building. At his public meeting on July 10, the mayor of Nice promised: " We will acquire the garden itself so that we can create, as we do in all the city's parks and gardens, a sublime place that benefits the entire neighborhood and can be a place of rest, serenity, and calm. And in the garden, we will create an enclosure for the dogs."