meeting with a “castle hunter” looking for “nuggets to renovate”

It’s a job learned on the job. Bertrand Bussière is “fell into the world of castles”, seven years ago. After working in mergers and acquisitions consulting, he joined the company Chateauform’, a specialized company in the rental of properties for seminars and events, without knowing anything about real estate.

Bertrand Bussière sets off with his team in search of castles and large properties throughout Europe. “We are going to find beautiful places that we will renovate so that we can turn them into seminar centers”he specifies. “I have a colleague who is nicknamed the truffle” for his ability to find “nuggets to renovate”confides Bertrand Bussière, who explains that“between us, we like to call ourselves castle hunters but our core business is the preservation of heritage”.

When the company Chateauform’ was created in the mid-1990s, the idea was to take seminars and corporate training out of hotel basements by offering to rent rooms and rooms in beautiful properties. . “We are always looking for buildings with a heritage character. We are not interested when we have to build a brand new hotel. Sometimes, we are in places that are in ruins and we have to imagine that it will become exceptional “indicates Betrand Bussière.

The company therefore offers the castle owner a twelve-year lease, with work to be carried out. The guarantee for the owner of having a cash flow after a long and expensive restoration. Without the lease “no financier follows us on such operations”explains Noureddine Znati, director of CIG Promotion and owner of Château des Gueules Cassées.

This residence, located in Moussy-le-Vieux in Seine-et-Marne, accommodated war wounded for almost a century. Sold in the 2010s, it will be transformed into a seminar center managed for the rental part by Chateauform’. “To find financing, it was very difficult during the last three or four years”indicates Noureddine Znati. Because since the Covid-19 pandemic, the hotel industry has been slowing down, continues Noureddine Znati : “There is no development and it is very difficult to finance these operations.” Work is due to begin in two weeks for a global project worth 38 million euros.

“The site is quite typical” for the Chateauform’ company, indicates Bertrand Bussière. The Château des Gueules Cassées also has an advantage, it is close to the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. “We see the planes passing but we don’t hear them”smiles the development manager at Chateauform’. “As our clientele is very international, they still take planes a lot. We want that when they land, they have three quarters of an hour of transport to arrive at the castle so obviously we focus on the areas around the major international airports.” TGV access is then favored because customers “is taking the train more and more”.

The development of Chateauform’ continues. “We have a lot of requestsexplains Bertrand Bussière. We receive around 700 000 participants in our 70 sites and in the months of June and September when we even have to refuse people.”