PARIS — A small logistics revolution is taking place under the Champs-Élysées. Located at number 66 of the world’s most famous avenue, a former parking lot that has been closed for several years due to a lack of security upgrades, is currently being radically transformed into a new-generation mega-warehouse.
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This large-scale project, supported by Mont Thabor and Swiss Life Asset Managers France, offers breathtaking dimensions: 16,000 square meters (172,220 square feet) spread over nine underground levels will be able to accommodate goods from the surrounding shops in the heart of Paris, as soon as 2026, with guaranteed delivery in less than 20 minutes. The facility will be able to handle 90,000 pallets per year.
“L’Atelier logistique is like an inverted cathedral. We’re providing our customers with an ambitious, sustainable response to the challenges of the city of tomorrow,” says Fabrice Lombardo, Director of Real Estate at Swiss Life Asset Managers France. At a time when access to the very dense center of Paris is becoming increasingly difficult for motorized vehicles, the project, costing tens of millions euros, has plenty of appeal. Its architects can already claim that its operation will save the city 657,000 kilometers of light utility vehicle traffic.
This, with promised deliveries to the Champs-Élysées/Avenue Montaigne area in five minutes, Le Marais neighborhood in 20 minutes, Rue Saint-Honoré in 10 minutes and the Saint-Germain district in 15 minutes.
“Anne Hidalgo’s “quarter-hour city” is in full swing with this project,” says Victor Bardon, Director of Project Management at Swiss Life Asset Managers France, referring to the Paris mayor’s desire to make the capital the city of proximity, where all the shops you need are just a 15-minute walk or 5-minute bike ride away.
The pallets will be transported by automated robots and taken down via freight elevators.
Other major cities such as London, Rome, Barcelona and Madrid are looking closely at the project with the idea of duplicating it at home, says Bardon.
And with good reason. While the transformation work is still in progress — the aim being to have everything completed by the end of 2025 — the logistics that will be set up have already been designed down to the last detail. On Rue de Ponthieu, trucks will arrive at night to unload pallets of goods at one of the parking lot access ramps. The pallets will then be transported by automated robots and taken down via freight elevators to the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th basements, to be stored.
When retailers place their orders, these goods will be transported by the robots in the opposite direction up to the 5th, 4th and 3rd basements, where they will be loaded onto cargo bikes or vans before exiting via the ramp on rue La Boétie. Delivered in less than 20 minutes, ordered items can even be wrapped in their own packages if retailers opt for this premium service. Once completely renovated, the main architecture of the parking lot will remain, but the interior space will be transformed and streamlined with specific acoustics, pleasant lighting and regulated humidity.
Attracting both luxury and mainstream stores
Is this project comparable to the current transformation of the Avenue Foch parking lot into an urban logistics centre and bus storage station? “At Foch, it’s a Paris concession. Here, we’re the owners,” says Stéphane Bettini, president of Mont Thabor. Moreover, unlike the Foch parking lot, which has retained its long-established shooting center, discotheque and bowling alley, the Champs-Élysées warehouse is entirely dedicated to logistics: “In terms of insurance and security, our estate is therefore completely different,” says Bettini, adding: “We’ve gone to the highest security standards you could imagine.” A key point to reassure retailers.
We’ll be considerably cheaper than the top end of the price range.
At this stage, the owners are negotiating with logistics companies to operate the premises, and have yet to sign contracts with retailers. The aim is to attract both the luxury stores that dominate the Champs-Élysées — such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, Omega and Tiffany — and more mainstream stores such as Zara, Massimo Dutti, Miniso and Sephora. Marketing has just begun, and the project’s initiators claim “to have been approached by a good number of them”.
Brands may find it particularly attractive in these Parisian districts, where both store rents (around €15,000 per square meter per year — about $1,700 per square foot) and storage rents are particularly high.
“In these areas, average storage rents are between €800 and €900 per square meter per year, and can be as high as €5,000. We’ll be considerably cheaper than the top end of the price range”, says Bettini. The Atelier logistique will enable them to increase their stocks in close proximity, and to respond more rapidly to customer demand by having reserves always available. “The Atelier logistique will be an extension of the sales outlet, enabling the store to expand its sales space and reduce its own reserves,” says Bettini.
It remains to be seen whether these advantages will be enough to get brands on board this project, which will only make sense in terms of transforming the city — and thus reducing the number of delivery trucks on small streets — if enough of them sign up.
