The town hall buys this private castle in Indre for 100 euros
Acquire a castle often seems inaccessible. Not for the community of Villedieu-sur-Indre, in Indre (36), which will acquire an 11th century castle belonging to foreign promoters, for the modest sum of 100 €, says France 3 Centre-Loire Valley. The municipal council voted, last Friday, the acquisition of the castle. Admittedly, the ruined castle looks more like a house of cards than a brand new property. “It’s not worth more than what we give», asserts Xavier Elbaz, the mayor of Villedieu-sur-Indre.
Why did the owners, promoters of the Opus Development Corporation group, agree to part with their castle bought in 1999 for such a ridiculous price ? “When they acquired the castle, it was already in ruins. This property has been abandoned since the day after the Second World War. The promoters had a project: to transform the castle into a luxury hotel but during the crisis of 2008, the company which was to rehabilitate it into a hotel collapsed and since then no project has been able to see the light of day.“, assures Xavier Elbaz. They had bought the castle for 2390 €.
2 million euros with the outbuildings and the woods
For the mayor, either the castle was going to collapse soon, or the community got involved to try to save what there is still to save. The roof is tattered, the beams hang in the air and trees even grow through the windows. “It is not tenable for any private actor as it stands“says the mayor. The objective being toredo a clean facade, clean towers and clear everything, which will take at least 10 yearshe projects himself. If one day I manage to do this, it will be the most beautiful thing I have done during my mandate.“.
Will the castle then fall into the hands of a private actor who will operate it? As it straddles an 18-hole golf course, will it be used as accommodation for golf enthusiasts? “I am facing a wall. I don’t see the after. It is millions of miles from the current situation. If I projected myself too much, people would take me for a fool and rightly so.“, emphasizes Xavier Elbaz. The year 2023 will in any case be used to study the means of making the castle more aesthetic and to evaluate the budget necessary for this operation to succeed.
The foreign promoters keep the outbuildings of the castle and its 40 hectares of land and wood acquired over time. They bought the chateau for €2,390. As for the outbuildings and the woods, the developers had to pay €724,000, then €688,000 for other woods, €110,000 for other land and still other land for €285,000… until they reached an amount close to the two million euros for the castle, the outbuildings and the woods. The municipality would have acquired the commons as well, but the developers are asking for millions of euros. A budget too high this time for the town hall.
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