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 According to recent reports in French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur (March 22-28, 2007) and figures released by French estate agents’ federation FNAIM, great things are on the horizon for the Languedoc town of Béziers.
Rumours about the advent of a low-cost carrier connecting the town with the UK continue to abound; Irish investors are quietly putting their money into office blocks and long-term residential rentals; the Michelin-starred Pourcel twins of Montpellier’s crème-de-la-crème hotel-restaurant Le Jardin des Sens are planning to open a new Compagnie des Comptoirs restaurant in the centre in May 2007; the opening of the new mediatheque designed by leading Paris architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte is eagerly awaited; and renowned French theatre producer/director Jérôme Savary is leaving Paris after twenty years to set up a new base with his company at Beziers’ Théâtre des Franciscains this summer.
Meanwhile, things are hotting up on the property front. Near the station, the city has given the green light to a huge building site that is destined to become the quartier Wilson and home to 10,000 square metres of offices, a ten-screen multiplex cinema, an open-air shopping centre, a leisure centre with a fourteen-lane bowling alley, a hotel, and what the French call a résidence hotelière, where self-catering units can be rent on short-term lets. Elsewhere, new build developments are popping up like spring daisies.
The Nouvel Observateur tips Beziers as a destination to watch, while FNAIM figures show that resale apartment prices are still decidedly reasonable. Overseas buyers who appreciate the charms of period apartments complete with parquet floors, marble mantelpieces and high ceilings should focus on the 18th and 19th century buildings in the city centre, where prices were at an average of only 1,747 euros per square metre at the end of 2006 (as opposed to Montpellier, for example, where you’d pay a whopping 2,685 euros for the same kind of space). A recently renovated, spacious apartment of 260 square metres in perfect condition, with terrace and garage, recently changed hands for 370,000 euros – a veritable steal compared with Provençal city centre prices.
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