From concrete to greenery, Nice completes its other promenade

The first part, launched by Mr. Estrosi upon his arrival at the town hall in 2008 and inaugurated in 2013, is a resounding success: Niçois and tourists flock every day to this 12-hectare strip which goes up the course of the Paillon, a small, capricious river whose last two kilometers were covered in the 19th century and were bristling with concrete for a long time.

Trees and a 128 m² water mirror with random jets now make it an island of freshness. Here the air temperature drops by two to three degrees in the middle of summer, and by up to ten degrees on the perceived temperature compared to the surrounding streets.

Where once stood a bus station, an old multi-storey car park or a petrol station, the promenade with its shaded benches, play areas, expanses of grass and modular spaces has become a place for relaxation, meetings and entertainment.

Buoyed by this success, Mr. Estrosi wanted to move up the Paillon River a little further and add 8 hectares of parkland. This was one of his striking proposals for the 2020 municipal elections. Thanks to technological advances, he promised a veritable "urban forest" of 5.000 trees, commissioned from landscape architect Alexandre Chemetoff.

"We lost big."

The park alternates between undergrowth, expanses of grass, fun and sports trails, works of art, water gardens... Even if the trees are still young and the climbing plants are not yet very tall.

The species were chosen for their ability to thrive on little water, provide shade, and absorb pollutants. And to allow them to thrive on the concrete vaults covering the Paillon, a rainwater harvesting system can store the equivalent of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

"It's going to be very pretty, we were sure of it from the start," comments Green Party representative Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux, head of a PS-Green-PCF list for the 2026 municipal elections. "But to get there, we lost a lot."

The bill is already steep: 12 years ago, the first section cost €40 million. According to the town hall, the second section cost €45 million, to which must be added €43 million for road repairs, an underground car park, and the library, which has been closed for renovations for months and remains at the center of the promenade.

And above all, the new section of promenade required the demolition of the convention center and the National Theater of Nice (TNN), a divisive building with gray marble facades by architect Yves Bayard with a very mineral universe. And replacement projects still seem far off and expensive: the idea is to create a theater in the current exhibition center at the end of the park and a new convention center on the airport side.

In the meantime, theatergoers are being accommodated in a temporary structure, and conference attendees -- essential for the tourism sector in the low season -- are expected to be accommodated in the temporary buildings installed on the port for the UN Ocean Summit in June.

Another uncertainty: the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Mamac) has also been closed for almost two years for work that has still not begun.

Estrosi's former deputy, his now rival Éric Ciotti (UDR, allied with the RN) has become a fierce opponent of the new section, denouncing "a senseless cycle of crazy destruction" while other projects drag on: in particular in schools, sports infrastructure and future tramway lines.

But the TNN and the convention center were no longer up to Nice's ambitions, and their destruction saves the city 545 tons of CO2 equivalent per year in energy losses, assures Mr. Estrosi. In the face of climate change, it is "a way of bringing the city into harmony."