Why Is It So Hard to Build a $3.4 Billion Mega-Mall Near Paris?
- Auchan and Dalian Wanda planning EU3.1 billion leisure complex
- Macron could back project opposed by environmentalists, mayors
A model of the EuropaCity project in Gonesse, France.
Photographer: Christophe Morin/BloombergThe only thing moving in the broad expanse of wheat, colza, corn and beet fields near Paris is a half-empty city bus trundling along a brand-new road. Overhead, the ever-present noise of planes disrupts the calm.
This is the future home, local officials hope, of EuropaCity, a 3.1-billion euro ($3.4 billion) shopping and leisure complex being developed by grocery giant Auchan Holding SA and Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group Co. Among its planned features: a circus, a theme park and an indoor ski slope. It’s also the target of opponents including nearby mayors, environmental groups, farmers, malls and small businesses. More than a decade after planning began, it’s not clear when EuropaCity will be constructed.