The Montparnasse Tower will be closed to the public on March 31st prior to renovation work.

"The co-owners voted, on December 19, by 99,5% an autonomous decision to close the tower to the public on March 31, after the two prefectures of Ile-de-France and Paris suggested accelerating" the renovation project, he said.

In a letter dated November 14, the two prefectures had requested "the rapid closure of the building to the public" due in particular to the presence of asbestos, and this "no later than the beginning of 2026".

Work will begin "probably after the summer," added Frédéric Lemos on the sidelines of the signing of a protocol with the Paris City Hall to launch the restructuring project for the Maine Montparnasse shopping center, attached to the tower.

The 210-meter-high office building is to be transformed into a glass tower, housing a hotel, shops and services, and topped with an agricultural greenhouse. The project, costing over 600 million euros, is expected to be completed in four years.

The nearby "CIT" office building also needs renovation. Work will also begin this year and last for at least two years, Frédéric Lemos confirmed.

As for the shopping centre and the slab which connects the different buildings of this block, they will be deconstructed at 18% to recreate an "open, through, lively, green space", according to the Paris City Hall.

New buildings "of Haussmannian dimensions" will be built around a central square and will house shops, bistros, services, offices, student accommodation, as well as "sports roofs".

The architect Renzo Piano, who conceived the project, wanted to maintain a "simple" approach: "we keep the building's structure, we cut where we need to cut to open it up, but not too much".

The "ground floor is essential" for him and is intended to be open and transparent to the surrounding streets.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo welcomed the concrete progress of the project. "The shopping center was declining year after year (...) it was no longer acceptable, it was not possible for me to leave - excuse my language - this eyesore to my successors," she stated.

The Montparnasse Tower is owned by just under thirty investors, the largest of which is LFPI (La Financière Patrimoniale d'Investissement). The company Séché Environnement, the insurer Axa, the mutual insurance company MGEN, and the businessman Xavier Niel, through his company NRS represented by Frédéric Lemos, are also among the co-owners.

Around thirty co-owners hold the shopping center and its concrete slab. The CIT was owned by more than 150 co-owners in 2015, a number that has since been reduced.