In Meudon, the west wing of the CNRS site accommodates around forty employees. In particular engineers who manufacture parts for telescopes, robots or satellites.
Among them, Nicolas Geyskens has worked here for almost 20 years. The sale of the CNRS premises recorded 10 days ago will precipitate the move of his department… to the detriment, according to him, of certain research projects. “Six weeks is a short time to transfer all the equipment, he explains. delay”, adds the mechanical research engineer at the CNRS.
A real estate program led by Vinci and Kaufman & Broad
Here is what should replace the CNRS site: a residence of 217 apartments, including 43 social housing, 1 shop and gardens. A project led by Vinci and Kaufman and Broad. The CNRS had every intention of selling, but not at any price. A deed of sale had also been drawn up in 2021. The document that we obtained sets the price of the plot at 46,700,000 euros, in accordance with an independent expert report commissioned by the CNRS.
But in the summer of 2022, the promoters make a much lower counter-proposal, reported in an internal CNRS document: “the developers’ final offer is 38.8 million euros. […] The establishment cannot accept, given the value of the property”.
A letter from the Minister to the management of the CNRS
Under these conditions, the CNRS therefore refuses to sell… But here it is: the building permit filed by the promoters expires next April. A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research took a stand and asked the CNRS to accept the promoters’ offer. So did the state sell off the land and rush the sale? Minister Sylvie Retailleau’s office says no:
“I can confirm that there was indeed a letter addressed to the management of the CNRS. […] It’s like in all real estate transactions: there are two numbers: that of the estimate and that at which you find a buyer“, answers us the entourage of the minister.
The ministry also explains that it referred to a lower assessment of the state real estate department, a service in Bercy. Despite our requests, they did not wish to communicate it to us.
An appeal brought by the research unions
The research unions denounce a discrepancy between this real estate operation and the rigor that would be imposed on them on a daily basis in the financing of their work: “Everything is checked to the nearest euro, to the nearest cent, everything is complicated to spend and there, we have the impression that a difference of 8 million euros can be made like that overnight, without no verification“, annoys Boris Gralak, elected from the SNCS-FSU union to the CNRS board of directors.
We asked the promoters how they justified this difference of 8 million euros between the two offers, and if they had requested the intervention of the ministry: “No comments on the subject” for Kaufman and Broad. “We will not be able to respond to your request.”Vinci tells us.
This week, two research unions must file an appeal before the administrative judge. They hope to block the start of the work.