The Besançon Chalezeule Carrefour shopping centre gets an extension
A revitalised hub for the eastern Besançon urban area
A long-established site forming part of the eastern Besançon commercial hub, the Chalezeule Carrefour shopping centre has just opened a 15,000 m² GLA retail park, the highlight of an ambitious major urban renewal project for the Greater Besançon area, initiated by the urban community. Carrefour started work on revitalising the site nearly 10 years ago in a bid to increase the attractiveness and modernity of a well-established busy location, in a fast-changing dynamic area through which the tramway line has passed since September 2014. The project is thus part of the drive to rebalance the commercial offerings of the northern, western and eastern areas of Greater Besançon.
With the opening of this extension, the Chalezeule centre now features an extended commercial offering. Customers visiting the retail park have direct access to the new stores from parking areas on both sides of the tramway line, or they can make their way to them from the existing shopping centre. Designed by the ALU architects’ firm, the whole architecture has been thought out in order to create a continuity between the existing site and its extension.
16 new retailers making up a complete and family-orientated offering
Over 15,000 m² of GLA in addition to the Carrefour shopping centre, the Chalezeule Retail Park has sixteen new stores on either side of the tramway station.The new retail park features a complete mix-merchandising approach, with large stores ranging from 1100 to 2510 m² for specialist retailers, together with 150 to 800 m² boutiques.Around the Easy Cash store, the larger Ambiance et Styles and La Foir’Fouille stores will delight home decoration and accessory enthusiasts.Fashion lovers will enjoy browsing the collections of Camaïeu and Armand Thierry. And as far as shoes are concerned, Chaussea tops off the centre’s “fashion” offering.Sports enthusiasts can get their needs met at the Basic Fit sports facilities and at Intersport, as well as the region’s first Space Jump trampoline park, scheduled to open in early 2019.Children will also be getting their own dedicated stores with Verbaudet and King Jouet. And even our pets will be able to get a pampering at Maxi Zoo!Finally, bakery Marie Blachère, chocolatier RéautéChocolat and soon Subway and Grill&Grill will make up the food services offering.
An environmentally-friendly shopping centre
The Chalezeule Retail Park is environmentally friendly: it was rated “Very Good” during the design phase according to the BREEAM assessment method – the international framework for certifying a building’s compliance with a certain number of environmental criteria. By way of an example, 260 trees and 6000 bushes have been planted across the Retail Park in order to safeguard the planet’s biodiversity. Carmila and Carrefour Property are both committed to preserving the planet’s biodiversity and have also started a campaign in partnership with Reforest’Action, a French privately-financed tree-planting organisation. Through this partnership, 2000 trees will be planted in the Favernay forest.
The centre is also bolstering its economic and social role, creating 100 new full-time jobs in the new stores. The works initiated by the centre for its extension project have also benefited the local economy: 85% of the companies involved were from the region, and more than 3000 professional hours were spent on the project.
