As one comes down, a new congress centre will soon go up on the port of Nice. The deadline for completion is the UN One Ocean Summit in 2025. 

After a few legal hurdles, the demolition of the Palais Acropolis, Nice’s former exhibition centre on the Promenade du Paillon, has begun. Now it has been announced that it will be replaced with a sleek new building on the Quai Infernet of Port Lympia.  

Nice will be working to a tight deadline. In June 2025, the city will host the United Nations One Ocean Summit. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, who broke the news of the new project in the port, has gone as far as to tell local press that it was the UN who “insisted the summit take place in the port”.  

More than 20,000 delegates from around the world are expected to attend the event over four days. The new congress centre, which is currently without an official name, is promising an auditorium larger in size to the Salle Apollon at the Palais Acropolis – an increase to 2,400 seats – but where all of these attendees will be housed during official events remains to be fully addressed. 

Nearly 10,000m2 of space on the port is to be fully redeveloped. According to Estrosi, the financial burden of the project, a difficult topic at the moment in Nice, will fall almost entirely on the UN, who he claims will soak up 90% of costs.  

Mutual projects to the east and west 

It had previously been suggested that the Grand Arénas area of Nice, located close to the airport and the Eco Vallée, would be the chosen site for a new exhibition centre. It appears that these plans will still go ahead, but will be complemented by the port development: “One to the west with the future exhibition centre instead of the MIN Fleurs [and] one to the east dedicated to congresses,” Estrosi told local press.  

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Photo source: Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis