An auction launched by the Agglomeration Community led to an offer to 680,000 euros for a requalification of the major office offices, vestiges of Lorraine steel.
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There was this huge canopy, which now leaves the pigeons and showers. There was this beautiful staircase where WENDEL’s executives grew up, today abandoned at the enthusiasts of Urbex (for “urban exploration”). There were also these moldings, completely crumbled by time. The large offices of Wendel, Hayange (Moselle), were the symbol of the power of Lorraine steel industry. The deserving workers were honored. There was developing production and modernization plans.
Like the top stoves that no longer spit the slightest casting, this large architectural ensemble of 8,900 square meters, erected from 1892, ceased to live for a long time. Since the nationalization of 1981, precisely. The Wendel family had already left the places three years earlier. “Time has greatly degraded this building, sighs Michel Liebgott, the President of the Agglomeration Community of the Val de Fensch. We had to do something. It is a very important site for the inhabitants of our valley. We have all personal memories. “
The community has been the owner of the building for twenty years, after it had been redeemed by a Luxembourg businessman who planned to develop a resort. Since then, several projects have emerged, without ever exceeding the stage of the idea, rehabilitation costs, valued at several million euros, having cooled potential investors. “I have no touches, reveals Mr. Liebgott. It was time to throw a bottle at the sea.”
“Need an overall layout”
The agglomeration community has used the AgoraStore company to organize a site auction. This one took place from March 29 to 31, with a starting price set at 60,800 euros. Ninety-eleven auctions were finally spent, and the best offer amounted to 680,000 euros. A Divine Surprise for Michel Liebgott: “I did not expect that there are so many candidates and such a competition. This is a proof of the dynamism of our territory.” The identity of the most offering is for the instant assistance secret.
It will be auditioned early May by local elected officials, which are not intended to meet other candidates for redemption. “We keep the right to follow up or not to this sale,” says Liebgott. We will choose the most serious, most determined candidate. Obviously, the purchaser who offered 680,000 euros demonstrated his motivation. But that’s not enough. For our agglomeration community, it’s not a matter of money. “
Because the large offices are in the immediate vicinity of the 500 hectares of the Patural Industrial Fricter, where the old furnaces are waiting to be boned. “There is a huge space to convert, which requires an overall planning with clean industry, but also from the habitat,” says Michel Liebgott. The elected official could have used public instruments at its disposal to mount a concerted development area. “In the region, we have some experience in the reconversion of Friches, he says. And we have been able to measure the weight of the rules applicable to the public. The private will be much faster and operational.”