Monaco Property Market to Witness Boost from Land Reclamation Project

ST TROPEZ, FRANCE, August 23, 2012 (Press-News.org) Up to five hectares of new land for development will breathe fresh life into the beach district, opening new opportunities for Monaco real estate companies and creating jobs in development, construction, and leisure. The extension will be a chance to inject contemporary and forward-looking glamour to the beach area. It will also be a welcome boon for inhabitants in the micro-state that has a strained land capacity, and is quoted to require 300,000 to 350,000 m2 of new space per decade to meet the needs of an increasing populace.

As of yet, no concrete figures of the exact size of the reclamation have been released, or the capacity of residents it will hold. However, numerous properties and apartments in Monaco will have to be built to keep up with the increasing population. The principality has a total area of just 2.05 km2, and already has a staggering population density of 18,000 inhabitants per square kilometre. The challenges of redevelopment in Monaco are caused by an abundance of current buildings, which must be demolished prior to erecting new ones.

Discussions for a land extension began prior to 2008, however the global financial crisis put the project on hold and induced a realistic budgetary review. At the time, ambitious plans were released for reclamation of 15 hectares, before being sensibly reduced to five hectares. Reports of ambitious plans to hire world-class architecture firms such as Studio Daniel Libeskind or British architect Norman Foster have since quietened.

Prince Albert II of Monaco has clearly expressed his concern for the ecological impact of any extension in his state. He has stipulated that this extension project be conceived with a vigilant environmental awareness for sea currents, and delivered in alignment with the current economic climate. Any extension at Larvotto will be restricted to 400 meters from the existing coastline, to preserve the marine nature in the Mediterranean Sea. Buildings on the development will be restricted in height with due sensitivity to current Monaco properties and so as not to obstruct the sea views of residences in nearby Avenue Princess Grace. Hotels in the Principality have accepted the disruption that the development's construction is likely to create and which will last approximately ten years, as they will have the most to gain from the economic windfall associated with the completed project. The Sovereign's decision on the location of the project veered between Larvotto in the East and Fontvieille in the West, before expertly settling on Larvotto for its flatter seabed; Fontvieille was rejected due to the potential costs and technical challenges of building onto a seabed that in places lies 40 metres below sea level.

Monaco is a long-time advocate of land reclamation from the sea; Larvotto Beach itself is an artificial construct, as is Fontvieille, both the product of Monaco's last wholesale reclamation of land project back in 1981. The next extension will be a natural continuation in the long-term economic development of the Principality.

Website: http://www.25-lacosta-properties-monaco.com

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