By Inti Landauro
PARIS--A three-year legal battle over plans to build a massive
steel-and-glass building in the heart of France's manicured capital
came to an end Friday as a high-court ruled the EUR500 million
project can proceed.
Conseil d'Etat--France's highest administrative court--ruled
that plans by luxury goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton
to revamp the iconic Samaritaine department store along the banks
of the Seine doesn't violate the rules protecting the city's
heritage. The most contentious part of the design: A plane of
frosted glass that LVMH aims to erect, covering one of the
building's facade.
On Friday, La Samaritaine's Chief Executive Jean-Jacques Guiony
said the construction would now resume in the coming days, allowing
the site to open in late 2018.
The long-running legal dispute pitted defenders of Paris'
architectural heritage against developers and city officials who
argued the project would be a boon for the local economy.
Conservationists had filed a lawsuit to block the construction,
arguing the modern flourish would disfigure the city's celebrated
shopping thoroughfare, the rue de Rivoli.
But city officials and LVMH pushed back, arguing the project
created a rare opportunity for expansion in the heart of one of the
world's most cosseted capitals. Under the plans, the building site
will include a luxury hotel, office space and subsidized
housing.
"We need to know how to bring modernity to this city, and
modernity is not the enemy of heritage," Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo
told reporters after the court issued its ruling.
"Nostalgia is a nice engine for a city, but creation is also a
good one, " she added.
Alexandre Gady--an architecture historian and the president of
the Society for the Protection of Landscapes and Aesthetics in
France, which brought the lawsuit against the project--said the
ruling set a dangerous precedent for preserving Paris' historic
center.
"It's all about which city we want to live in," Mr. Gady said.
"We don't oppose modernity, but it must respect the homogeneity of
the capital's center."
The project was first conceived after La Samaritaine was forced
to close in 2005, because it wasn't up to the latest building
codes. In 2010, LVMH came up with a plan to restore the famed
art-deco building--located just a stone's throw from the Louvre
museum--and merge it with neighboring buildings.
Paris authorities approved the project back in 2012, but in
November a Paris court, acting on Mr. Gady's lawsuit, ordered LVMH
to suspend the project.
Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
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