
Construction of the Swam complex at Euralille, near the Lille-Europe TGV station has begun. It will include offices, shops, restaurants and a Mama Shelter hotel, scheduled to open in 2018. It is the first stage in a project to expand and enliven the Euralille business district.
The complex's name, Swam, is derived from the name of the former 17th-century "Souham" barracks near which there were fortifications, including the bastion Saint Maurice, which made it possible to protect access to the city at the Porte de Roubaix. Swam is built upon the footprint of the former fortress.
This real estate project is located near the Lille-Europe TGV station, next to Parc Matisse. Its surface area is 11,700 m², including 4,000 m² of shops and restaurants that are planned to stand out against the local offerings), and the development of a nine-floor Mama Shelter hotel. It will have 112 rooms, five meeting rooms and a restaurant. Mama Shelter is a hotel chain founded by Serge Trigano. AccorHotels owns 30% stake in the chain (as well as exercisable stock options), with addresses in Bordeaux, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Los Angeles and Rio Santa Teresa. in addition to Lille, a property is currently under development in Toulouse.
The cost of the Swam project is estimated at 55 million euros, 14 million of which are financed by the Métropole Européenne de Lille (MEL). It is being built in collaboration with the developer Nacarat. For the launch of the project, Damien Castelain, President of MEL, declared: "The first stone for Swam, is the first stone for Euralille 3000, and a concentration of our urban ambitions for the economy and tourism".
