Renovation this winter of the entire coastline of Juan-les-Pins to return the beach to the beach
The seaside in Antibes-Juan-les-Pins is currently undergoing renovation work. These three sectors of the coastline aim to hide the beach restaurants and restore the beach to its full dimension. The beach-goers bear the cost of this facelift.
There are three sectors of Antibes-Juan-les-Pins that are concerned by this work: La Garoupe, La Pinède, and Juan-les-Pins itself. The work is the most advanced and impressive in this last place. It consists of dismantling and removing the beach restaurants (seven in the Baudoin sector) to reinstall them in new premises, but now under the sidewalk of the promenade and no longer directly on the sand.
“No more view of the roofs of the beach restaurants”, explains the mayor, Jean Leonetti. “We open up the perspective and make the beach more natural. But it is also to accommodate the beach attendants better, and we are doing this by burying the premises of the establishments under the Juan promenade, ” the city’s chief magistrate continues.
Under the promenade and covered with plants
This is how, at the moment, technical premises for seven establishments are being built underground. They will then be covered with a concrete slab and then earth before being planted and redecorated with pink limestone. “On the sand, there will only be light structures, ” explains Raphaël Simon, deputy director of Antibes’s health, environment and sustainable development department. “Mattresses, of course, but tables, sails and other wooden structures that will be removable”.
This type of beach restaurant in Juan-les-Pins will now be under the sidewalk. This type of beach restaurant in Juan-les-Pins will now be under the sidewalk.
Juan les Pins gets a new boulevard and beach!
A grouping of concessions also accompanies this redevelopment. They are grouped, not separated by small public beaches. The space thus gained will be placed at the end and will now be a significant public beach “accessible to all”. “At La Pinède, we will now have the largest public beach in the city, assures the mayor. We will have a more beautiful coastline, and we will also be in compliance with the law.” It remains to be seen whether the beachgoers will not put more mattresses on these freed up spaces. The town hall assures that this will not be the case.
Total cost: 18 million euros
The work in the three sectors costs 18 million euros and will be entirely covered by the beachgoers. First, they paid a higher installation fee, which took into account this work, and then the fee due to the municipality was also revised upwards to pay for the work. In return, the beachgoers saw their concession period increase to 18 years. “We needed more time to cover our costs,” admits Victor, owner of two beaches. Such investments don’t pay for themselves quickly.”
The work is taking place this winter to not impact the 2025 season, as in 2024. It will take longer for the Pinède sector. A resident “sued in court” for the work, and a new building permit had to be filed. Therefore, a construction delay has been incurred.
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