The US$ 2.61 billion Hermitage Plaza Towers to be built in Paris La Defense business district have received planning permission and work on the site will start imminently, Emin Iskenderov, chief executive of development company Hermitage Group, said on March 9, during his interview to Wall Street Journal. Hermitage Group, a Paris-based private company with Russian origins, will start clearing the site for the two 320-meter-tall skyscrapers this month. The project will cost a total of US$ 2 billion, with US$ 916 million in bank debt arranged with four banks at a cost of 6.5 percent, and US$ 394 million of equity coming from Hermitage Group itself. The remaining US$ 1.3 billion will be financed through sales of apartments and offices. The Paris real-estate market, which was hit by the financial crisis in 2008, still hasn't recovered completely, and overall property prices remain below their 2007 peak. But Mr. Iskenderov is confident he can raise the US$ 1.3 billion portion needed through sales of apartments and offices as Hermitage Plaza will be La Defense's first building to offer mixed-use space. Hermitage Group will start selling the apartments in a year's time and expects a minimum price of US$ 15.7 thousand per square meter. Hermitage Plaza, designed by U.K.- based architects Foster and Partners, will provide 280 thousand square meters of mixed-use space, housing a five-star hotel, 543 apartments, 35 thousand square meters of offices and 50 thousand square meters of retail and restaurants. The Hermitage Towers will be 200 meters from La Defense's main transport links and will also provide 20 thousand square meters of public space.

As reported the newspaper Le Figaro, in 2014 Louvre will receive a new building - the museum will get the building of hotel de la Marine in Paris, which is currently the main headquarter of the Fleet Marine Forces. According to director of Louvre Henri Loyrette, the museum has no plans to move one of its departments or part of its collection to the new building. There will be exposed collections from other museums or institutions. The building total area is about 22 thousand square meters, 3 thousand of which have been already restored. The whole restoration project is estimated US$ 65-105 million (50-80 million euros). It is assumed that de la Marine hotel will become an important cultural center, where will also be held lectures and seminars. In one part of the building will house the Court of Audit of France. Hotel De la Marine is one of two stone buildings, located on the Place de la Concorde. It was built in 1757-1774 by the order of Louis XV according to Ange-Jacques Gabriel's design. The construction works were led by architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot. The building was used as a storehouse for the royal furniture and other property.

A French theme park is being planned in honour of Napoleon Bonaparte, almost 200 years after his death, reported The Telegraph. "Napoleonland", the brainchild of former French minister and history buff Yves Jego, is being touted as a rival to Disneyland. The plan is to build the unlikely amusement park, with US$ 280 million budget, on the site of the brilliant but doomed French leader's final victory against the Austrians in the Battle of Montereau in 1814 just south of Paris. Mr Jego hopes that construction work can start in 2014 and the park open its doors in 2017. He is due to provide more details on the attraction won February 18 - the 198th anniversary of the Battle of Montereau. The park is expected to house a museum, a hotel, shops, restaurants and a congress centre. The 1815 Battle of Waterloo, in which the Duke of Wellington ended Napoleon's rule in France, could be recreated on a daily basis with visitors perhaps even able be able to take part in the reenactments. They will also be able to take in a water show recreating the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, in which Lord Nelson scored a decisive victory over a French and Spanish coalition aboard HMS Victory but died in the process. But the park will also give pride of place to Napoleon's greatest victories, in particular the Battle of Austerlitz in which the Russo-Austrian army was decisively defeated. Napoleon looms large in the French national psyche but has no national museum to his name. The park would help keep him on the map while boosting the local economy, with a potential 1.5 million visitors in its first year.

As reported by TheMoveChannel.com, Picasso's first workshop, in the heart of Montmartre, is up for sale in Paris by 1.5 million euro. The workshop, located in Montmartre, has been converted into an apartment and is now listed on the property market for art-loving investors. The modern conversion is divided into two 40 square meters studios, comprising a loft apartment with mezzanine bedroom and a workshop. On the top of a hill close to Sacre Coeur, it has views across Paris from the city's bohemian centre. Picasso arrived at the property in October 1900, aged 19. The artist lived there with his best friend Carlos Casagemas and fellow painter Manuel Pallares for several creative - and promiscuous - years. Together, they spent their nights attempting to work, but more often than not getting distracted by dance halls, women and brothels. Picasso produced several paintings in the workshop, including the famous Le Moulin de la Galette. In February the next year, while Picasso was away from home, his friend Casagemas shot himself at a nearby cafe, prompting the onset of the artist's "blue period", and a depression that lasted for years. In 1904, after travelling frequently to Barcelona, Picasso settled in Paris. Today, a small plaque confirms that the city centre property was his premier atelier (first workshop). It is currently owned by a well-known French photographer. Playing a fundamental part in forming the artist's abstract style, this unique Paris apartment is a rare combination of contemporary home and art history.

According to site Constructiondigital, a 50-year, multibillion-euro concession contract between French railway infrastructure manager Reseau Ferre de France (RFF) and construction company Vinci set in motion the construction of one of the world's largest infrastructure projects launched in the past decade. This is France's biggest public-private partnership in the railway sector. The new South Europe Atlantic high-speed rail project is one of the largest the world has seen in a decade. The planned South Europe Atlantic high-speed rail (SEA HSR) will span about 188 miles and link the French cities of Tours and Bordeaux. Currently, travel between the cities takes about three hours and five minutes, but the new rail link will cut that time down to just over two hours. "Gaining an hour on the journey time will allow us to take a good slice of the current air travel market and carry four million extra passengers a year," said RFF Chief Executive Hubert du Mesnil. Construction on the SEA HSR will begin early next year and it is expected to take five years to complete production. It will include approximately 24 miles of connecting line to the conventional rail network. About 1,300 construction jobs and 150 permanent operation and maintenance jobs will be created for the project. Created in 1899 by French engineers Alexandre Giros and Louis Loucheur, Vinci has become the largest company in construction and related services worldwide. VINCI is the world leader in concessions and construction, employing close to 180,000 people in some 100 countries. Vinci and its predecessor companies has been involved in many major projects including the Gariep Dam completed in 1971, the Tour Montparnasse completed in 1972, the new visitor entrance to the Louvre completed in 1989, the Channel Tunnel completed in 1994, the Stade de France completed in 1998 and the Rio-Antirio bridge, completed in 2004.