FRANCE:IN 1908, American tycoon John Rockefeller wanted to buy a castle in south-west France, take it apart and reassemble it in the US. But the Abbaye de Fontfroide was saved by a local man who was passionate about his region's heritage, and now it's a world heritage site.
Miguel Espada, an earnest young French property developer, tells the story because the man, Gustav Fayet, a painter and friend of artist Paul Gauguin, was his wife’s great-grandfather.
It demonstrates, he says, a commitment to conservation and respect for heritage inherited by Garrigae, the company owned by Espada and his wife Cécile Viennet. Their conservation philosophy, says Espada, is integral to the way Garrigae is developing sale and leaseback holiday homes in south-west France.
Garrigae’s latest development is the Distillerie des Templiers, 40 apartments which will be built in a refurbished distillery in the heart of the cobbled medieval town of Pezenas, home of playwright Molière in the 17th century, now famous for its antique shops.
It’s about a half-hour drive to the Mediterranean at Agde, and an hour’s from Montpellier airport, a bit more from Carcassonne.
Garrigae has won several property awards for its upmarket developments, which include Les Jardins de St Benoit, being built in the Languedoc village of Corbières and Le Couvent d’Hérépian, a convent converted into a boutique hotel/residence in a village near Béziers.
Apartments in Distillerie, being sold here through Douglas Newman Good, will cost from €170,000 for a studio apartment up to about €490,000 for a two-bedroom apartment with a Jacuzzi; they are being sold with a guaranteed rental income of up to 4.76 per cent gross over 20 years if owners are not using the property.
Owners can also take a smaller return and use their property for up to six months a year or swap usage time to stay at one of Garrigae’s five other resorts, like Les Jardin des St Benoit, also in the Languedoc.
Construction work on Distillerie is planned to begin next spring and it should be built by 2011.
The development will include an outdoor swimming pool, gardens and a gourmet brasserie, and will be built around a courtyard with olive trees and a fountain and a spa where organic treatments will be offered.
“We will grow medicinal plants ourselves,” says Espada. The Garrigae developments are designed to respect the areas they are built in and to be part of the local community: Distillerie is on the main square of Pezenas, about as central as it could be.
The collapse of the management companies of a number of French sale and leaseback developments in the past year has made buyers here cautious about this once popular sort of investment.
There can be no guarantee against this happening but “as with all products, the customer needs to check out the product, to see that it makes sense”, says Espada.
He maintains that being the developer and management company guarantees that all the developments will reflect the company’s commitment to high quality; Garrigae is keeping 10 of the Distillerie units itself, which demonstrates that commitment, he says.
www.garrigae.com
www.dng.ie
