A French appeals court has rejected the building permit for the long-contested Sophia Village shopping centre in Valbonne, effectively bringing the troubled project to a standstill and delivering a significant legal setback to its developer, the Compagnie de Phalsbourg.

The Marseille Administrative Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday to uphold the unfavourable opinion issued by France’s National Commission for Commercial Planning in June 2024, dismissing the developer’s appeal point by point. The decision means construction cannot proceed on the site formerly known as Open Sky — a project that has been mired in controversy, legal challenges and repeated delays since it was first announced more than a decade ago.

For the association En Toute Franchise, which has led opposition to the project on behalf of small independent retailers, the ruling was an unambiguous win. The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, also welcomed the decision, saying it represented “a victory for downtown shops, local shops, which contribute to the future and vitality of the neighbourhoods, create social ties and reflect a certain art of living essential to the quality of life.”

A complicated victory

The mayor of Valbonne, Joseph Césaro, was more measured. Describing the outcome as a “Pyrrhic victory” — one obtained at a cost almost equivalent to defeat — he acknowledged the significant uncertainties the ruling now creates. “The real difficulty is going to be to know what we are going to do next,” he said. “The town hall alone does not have the means to buy back the entire land to carry out the project of its choice. It will be necessary to call on the public land institution and propose an economically viable project.”

The site, located in the heart of the Valmasque area and earmarked for development since the early 2010s, was originally scheduled to open in 2020. The project has been the subject of multiple legal challenges, including from En Toute Franchise, which describes its mission as defending small retailers and their quality of life.

The court found that the National Commission for Commercial Planning had acted within its rights in issuing an unfavourable opinion, rejecting the developer’s claims that the process had been irregular or that the commission had misapplied commercial planning law. Judges ruled that the project risked creating negative impacts on existing town centres, including Valbonne, and that traffic in the area was already saturated at peak times.

What happens next

Several options remain open to the Compagnie de Phalsbourg. The developer could appeal to the Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, though opponents of the project believe this is unlikely. Alternatively, a revised project with a significantly smaller footprint could be submitted — something the association En Toute Franchise indicated it would not oppose outright, provided the new scheme was substantially reduced and placed greater emphasis on environmental considerations.

For now, however, the site remains blocked — and after twelve years of setbacks, legal battles and broken deadlines, the future of the Sophia Village project is more uncertain than it has ever been.

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Main image: the original design for the Open Sky shopping centre