With two and a half years until delivery, only four apartments are still for sale in Monaco’s future eco-district Mareterra, while the majority of incoming families will be European, it has been revealed.
Guy-Thomas Levy-Soussan, managing director of SAM L’Anse du Portier, was guest speaker at the Junior Economic Chamber of Monaco meeting on Tuesday. As head of the company responsible for the design, development, financing and marketing of Mareterra, he revealed some very interesting facts about Monaco’s new property goldmine, a future district that is being created thanks to an enormous, multi-billion euro land reclamation project.
The properties, which will cradle Monaco’s new coastline, are definitely expansive, with only 140 apartments and 10 villas built on a total area of six hectares. The smallest apartment is 400sqm; the largest villas are over 3,000sqm. The rest of the district will be filled with 800 trees, making it the densest area in terms of greenery in the entire Principality.
The aim, said Guy-Thomas Levy-Soussan, was to accommodate more families who are settling in Monaco, a demographic that has been significantly growing in size over the years. It goes against a 20-year trend where people would buy studios and small apartments in Monaco for the residency status, but live abroad.
Of the 140 apartments on offer at Mareterra, 136 have already sold – a clear indication that demand is incredibly high, despite the matching price tag. Levy-Soussan was reluctant to reveal the exact price per square metre in the new district, however it would have to be somewhere above Fontvielle’s €58,000 per sqm and Monte-Carlo’s €60,0000 per sqm.
Still, it is not a question of money, said Levy-Soussan, when it came to selecting the district’s new residents. There are “no clients from the Middle East, Asia, and few Russians”, he said, and no investors. Prospective residents were put through a rigorous selection process in order to “have the best people for the neighbourhood”.
So, who will be living in Monaco’s most sought-after district? Mostly families from Italy, France, Belgium and Switzerland, he revealed.
Meanwhile, the project is said to be six months ahead of schedule.
As players return to training, AS Monaco sporting director Paul Mitchell speaks to the media about the record fee for Tchouaméni, other transfer objectives, and the club’s pre-season activities.
Monaco’s exploits in the 2021/22 season still linger fresh in the memory, but an early start to the season due to a Champions League play-off tie in early August means players have already returned to training. Monaco Life attended Philippe Clement’s men’s pre-season preparations in La Turbie on Tuesday, before sporting director Paul Mitchell fielded questions from the media.
Now that Aurélien Tchouaméni has been sold, are AS Monaco going to be making moves in the transfer market?
It feels like it hasn’t been a long break, we were here only a few weeks ago discussing the end of the season, and we’re already in a new season. At that point we were discussing Aurélien Tchouaméni. I think we all saw how fast and aggressive Real Madrid came to acquire his services. As an old season closes, a new season begins, and we’re always active and looking to strengthen what is a very good and ambitious young squad.
Monaco Life: Are you happy with the fee you achieved for Tchouaméni and what type of player are you targeting to replace him?
In terms of market value, I think usually a value of this kind and of this volume is created by the champions league. Unfortunately, over the last two years we haven’t managed to force ourselves into that competition. We’re looking forward to trying to do that again this summer. I’d suggest that it’s a value of the highest regard. Usually what this club has shown when it has accumulated similar values in the past, it has been done by doing extremely well and getting to the knockout stages of the Champions League and individuals doing well within that competition. To be able to do that and receive what we have, I think is a great job by all.
I think Aurélien deserves a great opportunity. I would say we’re happy all round from an organisational point of view. We will look for the same profile. There are reasons why players go for the price that they do and it’s because they’re very hard to replace like-for-like. I think there is competition internally with Eliot Matazo with young Soungoutou Magasa and young Mamadou Coulibaly, who is also a very exciting prospect. Youssouf Fofana had another excellent season from January to May and we also have Jean Lucas.
We’ll be active in the market. We’ll be looking at more of a defensive six element, which is what Aurélien gave us. The idea as always is to strengthen the holistic, the whole squad. We’ve got so much football to play and the squad have come back in great physical condition. We need to make sure we have a great squad this summer, not just great individuals.
It’s a packed schedule to begin the season, what needs to be done this year to prevent the errors made last season?
I think we need to be prepared and be in our best mental and physical condition. I think we have to learn from last season’s experiences: how we prepared, the games we played in preseason, the volume of work we did in pre-season, and utilise the experience that this group now has. It’s two years older than when I first arrived. It went through something similar last year, which will help us this year to approach these preparations better and show the best qualities we can. We finished the season in such a strong way, and we need to pick up where we left off.
As you got such a big fee for Tchouaméni, does that mean that you can resist approaches for other players such as Benoît Badiashile?
I think we have a very ambitious shareholder (Dmitry Rybolovlev). I think we were very clear towards the end of the season that it would take an important offer to lose any of our players and we feel that Real Madrid created that important offer, with the size and volume of what they did. That will be the same for every player. The shareholder wants to be successful, he wants to also be sustainable and we have to balance both of those elements the best we can. If people are genuinely interested in our players, and I think we have some exciting profiles in the European market, they will also have to come with an important offer to make him part ways with his talent.
AS Monaco players on their second full day back at pre-season training. Photo by Luke Entwistle, Monaco Life
Having lost Cesc Fabregas, Djibril Sidibé and Vito Mannone, are you looking to replace their experience?
It’s very much a question of balance. When I arrived a couple of years ago, we knew we had to bring in a younger dynamic into the club. We needed to create the ability to be sustainable and build players that could be exciting for the market, but always it’s also about winning and it’s a hard balance. We are looking at a more experienced profile of player to add to this talented young group. It’s always about the individual. We have discussed a bit of a higher age demographic with regards to our recruitment this summer.
Cercle Brugge goalkeeper Thomas Didillon has been involved in training with the group. Could he potentially join the side?
We’ve said before about growing these continued synergies between the two clubs that our shareholder owns. This is another example of how seriously we’re taking our relationship with Cercle. Thomas is a highly talented goalkeeper as we’ve seen the last two days, but also the last two seasons. We have five academy players training with Cercle, we have Thomas with us, so it’s about using our resources to enhance everybody and everything. When we talk about everything, we’re talking about Cercle Bruges and AS Monaco. Thomas has a unique experience to train with a great goalkeeper coach in Frederic De Boever and to train with some great goalkeepers such as Alexander Nübel and Radoslaw Majecki.
Monaco Life: Player sales and club success are often mutually exclusive elements. How does AS Monaco manage to achieve both on a yearly basis?
I can only speak for the last two seasons that I’ve been here. I think that balance is one of the most difficult things to find in modern football. We’ve seen a drastic change in strategy for many clubs, even some of the biggest in the world, in terms of recruiting younger and younger profiles to add a level of sustainability of sales, while also keeping that will and demand to win. That’s definitely where we see ourselves – in that competitive market and space. It is difficult. Like I say, a couple of years ago we felt that we didn’t quite have the talent pool at our disposal, so we made changes within our recruitment, within our talent ID, within our environment to harness more talented players and bring them to the next level. That was definitely a conscious strategy change for the club, and then by performing and creating a culture that can develop some of these guys, you see the bi-product is always higher valuations, which usually leads to higher player sales.
With the money from the Tchouaméni sale, are you able to be aggressive in the market?
I think we also have to remember we have some good players at this moment and time within the football club. We’ve lost an excellent young player in Aurélien, but for me I see that as an opportunity for other players to step into that position. We want to make sure as always that we’re strategic in the market. We’re trying to find the best value possible. We still have on our agenda stability and financial management. We take this very seriously like all clubs.
We will be aggressive but it will be strategic aggression. If we think that there is a good profile that can enhance our squad, as always, we’ll move clearly and concisely. If it takes a little longer, we will also do this to make sure that we have the right squad come 1st September. We have a very exciting squad at this moment in time, a squad that has achieved two podium finishes, which is important to remember and we have our eyes, as always, on other profiles that can enhance us and keep us competitive in every competition.
What are the club’s plans for pre-season friendlies?
The ambition this summer is to have as ambitious a games programme as we possibly can. We know we’re going into the Champions League play-offs and we have a really exciting start to Ligue 1 as well. We’re just finalising things, and hopefully then we can announce them. We’ll try on average to play one game per week up until the play-offs, but there could be a couple of weeks where we put on an additional game just to heighten and make sure the squad is getting the holistic game time and minutes needed. As I’ve said, this season, especially the first part of it, is going to be very much a squad game.
What are the objectives of the club going into the 2022/23 season?
I know it’s getting a bit like a broken record, but this squad has to be competitive in every competition. I think we’ve shown a real capability with a young group to be able to do that and deliver on that with two podium finishes, a final, a semi-final with heart-breaking penalties at the end of it and the last 16 of the Europa League. We’ll always push to be better, every summer we’ll try and add more quality but that’s not just in recruitment, that’s quality of development as well, being better in every single pre-season. We’re pushing the team harder this summer to be more ready, to have a more competitive games programme in our camps. Every year we want to be competitive, in everything that we do on the pitch and off the pitch. That’s always got to be the goal here.
Photo of AS Monaco Sporting Director Paul Mitchell (left) and Coach Philippe Clement (right) taken at a press conference earlier in the year by Luke Entwistle for Monaco Life
Monaco mourns the death of first firefighter in its history
A manslaughter and involuntary injury investigation has been opened into the death of Sergeant Thierry Perard on Sunday, the first firefighter to have died on duty in the history of the Principality.
Prince Albert was among many members of the community to express his condolences to the family and peers of Sergeant Thierry Perard, who died from toxic smoke inhalation on what should have been a day of celebration, Father’s Day.
“It is with great sadness that HSH Prince Albert II learned of the death of Sergeant Thierry Perard in the performance of his duties”, said the Palace in a statement, adding that it was “the first time in its history that the firefighter’s unit from the Principality loses one of its own, in the performance of his duty to save lives.”
Sergeant Thierry Perard was responding with his unit to a raging apartment fire in Le 21 residence building on Avenue Princess Grace on Sunday. Hours later, the government confirmed that the firefighter, with 26 years of experience, had died.
“His Serene Highness wishes to assure the wife and daughter of this firefighter that together with His family, He shares their deep sorrow,” said the Palace. “He also endorses the strong emotion of the Corps of Firefighters of the Principality, and of all the Public Force, deeply affected by this terrible event.”
Meanwhile, Minister of State Pierre Dartout on Monday visited La Condamine barracks with Minister of the Interior Patrice Cellario to express the government’s sympathy to firefighters and the family of the victim.
“The tragic death of Sergeant Thierry Perard is a painful reminder of the total commitment of firefighters to help our national community,” said the government in a statement.
Smoke billowed from the apartment on Avenue Princess Grace on Sunday, photo supplied to Monaco Life
Sergeant Thierry Perard reportedly entered the 400sqm home just after 1pm searching for its missing occupants, the toxic flames fuelled by large amounts of burning furniture and winds entering from three facades. It was, say experts, an “unprecedented” random phenomena.
Sergeant Perard was transported to hospital with toxic smoke inhalation and later died of his injuries. He had served 26 years in the brigade.
In total, 65 firefighters were called to the scene at the seaside district of Larvotto. The blazing apartment was situated on the first of five floors of block B, opposite the Grimaldi Forum, which is currently hosting the Monte-Carlo Television Festival.
On Monday, it was confirmed to Monaco Matin that the Public Security office, under the supervision of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Monaco, had opened an investigation for manslaughter and involuntary injury. The apartment is believed to be owned by a woman aged almost 100 years. Forensic experts from Marseille have been sent in to deteremine the origin of the fire and the circumstances surrounding the situation that led to the death of Sergeant Perard.
Photo by Stephane Dana, Government Communication Department
They did it! Cap Optimist paddleboards across the Med
Six Frenchwomen have completed a gruelling 1,800-kilometre non-stop journey from Monaco to Athens on paddleboards, all in the name of charity.
It’s hard to imagine that paddleboarding 1,800 kilometres is a warm-up for anything, but for the intrepid women of Cap Optimist, that is exactly what it was.
Their recently completed voyage, taking them from Monaco to Athens, is the precursor to an even bigger challenge the women are setting for themselves, namely an 8,000- kilometre trip between Peru and the French Polynesian island of Moorea in Tahiti coming up in January 2023.
The Monaco to Greece trip took the six women, Stéphanie Barneix, Emmanuelle Bescheron, Margot Calvet, Alexandra Lux, Basques Marie Goyeneche and Itziar Abascal, 13 days and nights, rowing around the clock for over 320 cumulative hours, before setting feet on dry land again on Saturday 18th June in the port city of Piraeus.
The athletes encountered some extraordinary conditions on their voyage, facing thunder and rain storms, a swell topping out at two metres high, strong headwinds and even an unexpected encounter with a shark.
These difficulties have made the women even stronger in their resolve, as well as bonding them closer than ever to face the next big challenge.
Of course, it’s love of the sea and of the sport that inspired the Cap Optimist team to take on this remarkable feat, but it also has a human side. The event, supported by the Prince Albert II Foundation, the Hellenic Community of Monaco, Greek Minister Yannis Plakiotakis, the Mayor of Piraeus Ioannis Moralis, the Yacht Club of Piraeus, and Sophia and Kostantinos Tsouvelekakis, was a fundraiser for Hope Team East.
All funds raised by sponsors, friends and supporters are being donated to the ELPIDA Association of Friends of Children with Cancer, as well as the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation.
Charles Leclerc charged from the back of the grid at Sunday’s Canada Grand Prix, making up 14 places to secure a deserved fifth position, whilst Max Verstappen extended his championship lead.
This weekend’s event was essentially an exercise in damage limitation for the Monégasque driver. Leclerc’s torrid run of bad luck began with a mechanical failure, continued with a costly strategic error at his home GP in Monaco, before another mechanical failure in Azerbaijan last weekend.
When it rains, it pours; In a rain-drenched Montréal, another change to the power unit of Leclerc’s Ferrari meant that he has exceeded his quota for the year, thus incurring a grid penalty, which would see him dropped to the back of the grid.
A penalty for Yuki Tsunoda ultimately meant that Leclerc would start from 19th, but with a lot of work to do. To add insult to injury, Leclerc’s major title challenger Verstappen claimed pole, ahead of Fernando Alonso, who was starting on the front row of the grid for the first time in a decade. In the other Ferrari, Carlos Sainz could only manage third in a tricky, wet qualifying session on Saturday.
Brightening up
It was a weekend of pathetic fallacy for Leclerc as the changing meteorological conditions perfectly demarcated his change in fortunes. If the rain encapsulated Leclerc’s mood on Saturday, then the sunny skies on Sunday were an unmistakably positive sign.
The race got underway without incident as the car led line astern with little contact and few place changes. George Russell was the main benefactor as he jumped from 8th to 6th before overtaking Kevin Magnussen on lap five to move up to fifth and just behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Sainz, in the far superior car, overtook Alonso with a simple DRS move on lap three, but the tyres of the Ferrari, which has struggled with tyre management issues throughout the season, were already beginning to grain. Leclerc, meanwhile, was quietly going about salvaging some points as he picked his way through the backmarkers.
Canadian GP, photo source: Scuderia Ferrari Press Centre
A technical failure for Sergio Perez’s Red Bull brought out the virtual safety car on lap eight and Verstappen took the opportunity to pit, before another virtual safety car on lap 20, this time brought out by a technical failure to Mick Schumacher’s Haas, gave Sainz the opportunity to pit.
Before his first pit stop, Leclerc had fought his way up to seventh, but he once again had to fight his way through the field after he came out behind Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda and Guanyu Zhou.
The impassable object
A late safety car, brought out by a comical crash from Tsunoda who, coming out of the pit lane went straight into the barriers, spelt danger for Verstappen. The reigning world champion was on older tyres to Sainz, who was right behind and chasing the victory.
However, despite being within a second for the remaining 16 laps of the race, Sainz simply couldn’t get past the Red Bull, who had the straight line speed to keep out of the clutches of the Ferrari.
Verstappen took the chequered flag to extend his championship lead over Leclerc to 49 points. Sainz took second, whilst Hamilton rounded off the podium. Russell continued his impressive run finishing fourth; the Brit is still the only driver on the grid to have finished in the top five in each race this season.
Driver of the day, Leclerc reached fifth and secured some valuable points in the championship battle. Thanks to Perez’ retirement, he closed the gap to the Mexican to just three points.
“I gave it my all,” said Leclerc post-race. “It never feels good to finish in P5, but considering where we started and the way the race unfolded, it was the best result we could bring home today.”
Next up is the British Grand Prix, where Leclerc scored his best result of the 2021 season, securing second but agonisingly missing out on the win late-on. “I’m looking forward to Silverstone now. It’s one of my favourite circuits on the calendar and hopefully we can score some big points there,” said Leclerc.
For the sake of his title challenge, he will have to.
Photo of Charles Leclerc source Scuderia Ferrari Press Centre
AS Monaco Basketball experienced a torrid night at the Astroballe on Friday, as they were played off the court by a completely rejuvenated Lyon-Villeurbanne (91-54), who levelled the Betclic Elite final series.
Monaco found themselves in difficulty from the offset as they struggled for scoring opportunities. A reaction from the home side was entirely foreseeable, but the intensity of their defensive game and their efficiency in attack seemingly caught the Roca Team off guard and by the end of the first quarter, the game looked beyond them.
On their route to the final, Monaco have been the masters of the comeback, most notably against Strasbourg in the deciding game of their quarter-final tie, but one never looked on the cards here.
Monaco were confined to a mere 54 points, equalling their seasons-worst tally, as only Ibrahima Fall Faye (10) reached double figures.
The scales were already evenly balanced going into the series, and in victory on Wednesday, they were tipped in Monaco’s favour.
Although, overall, Monaco will likely have a positive assessment of their result in Lyon (one victory, one defeat), the manner of the defeat will give Lyon the belief that the scales have tipped back in their favour, and that they can get a win at the Salle Gaston Médecin.
Lyon, however, will need to solidify their ascendancy in Monaco. “We had a reaction, which is good. Despite everything, it’s only one match, and we have to go to Monaco with the same intent, because we are facing champions, against whom all of our matches have been tightly-contested,” said Lyon manager Paul Lacombe. “We know that there will be a reaction from them. Nothing is won yet, and we have to be ready.”
The third match of the series takes place at the Salle Gaston Médecin on Monday as Monaco look to avenge their 2019 final defeat.
Photo source: AS Monaco Basketball
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