La Californie, Cannes’ very own Garden of Eden
Just east of the Festival City and south of the hill of Super-Cannes, one of the most select neighbourhoods in the third largest town in the Alpes-Maritimes proposes a wide array of properties ranging from smart residences with all possible amenities to luxury villas, new, contemporary and more intimate homes.
The history of La Californie began with construction of the hotel of the same name. The Avenue du Roi-Albert was then enriched by large residences symbolizing the sumptuousness of the second half of the 19th century. Many have since been transformed into apartments, including Le Californie and Villa Saint-Priest. Others have only kept their original parks : Champfleuri, Saint-Michel and the Château Montjoli. Neo-Gothic façades rub shoulders with buildings of oriental or Art Deco inspiration, while nature has held onto its rights in this harmonious neighbourhood.
“La Californie is the most prestigious part of Cannes after the Croisette,” says Joerg Buchen of Engel & Vöelkers. The existence of a double market is doubtless one of its main assets, shared out between prestigious villas and apartments in residences with parks, pools, tennis courts, conciergeries and even shuttles taking residents to the town centre. Another argument is its location, a 10- to 15-minute walk from the heart of town. La Californie also benefits from a quiet, wooded environment overlooking the Bay of Cannes and the Lérins Islands. Among his most recent sales, Joerg Buchen mentions a fully renovated apartment of 200 m2 (with three suites) in a very high class building, opening out to a generous terrace with the Mediterranean as a backcloth, acquired for 3 million euros by a Ukrainian client as a holiday home. Depending on their condition, address and views, apartments range from 8,000 to 14,000 € per sq. metre, with spikes up to 20,000 € or more for the most magnificent penthouses. Following a relatively quiet first quarter in 2013, real estate in Cannes has seen renewed interest.
”Many clients are looking for turnkey properties with the firm intention of benefiting from their holiday homes without delay, and avoiding the heavy burden of any refurbishment costs,” says Georges Fassone of the John Taylor agency. He goes on to describe one such development, consisting of nine top-quality apartments from 148 to 396 m2, prolonged by terraces of 62 to 322 m2 and priced from 20,000 to 30,000 €/m2, except for the penthouse. Facing the Med, this so-called intimate residence, currently a very popular commodity, is slated for delivery in 2014. Out of every ten sales concluded in La Californie, two concern main residences, eight holiday homes, even though stays are increasingly longer and more frequent. Three of the sales concern a French clientele, seven foreigners. The majority consist of apartments, given the layout of the area which, with the exception of a few roads dedicated to villas such as Montrouge and Reine Elisabeth de Belgique, contains more apartment buildings. For the same level of prestige, La Californie still offers more appealing prices than the Croisette.
“It is the historic cradle of the splendour long associated with Cannes,” explains Angie Delattre of Michaël Zingraf Christie’s. More than just a neighbourhood, an internationally recognized label, ideal exposure to the sun, and panoramic views of the deep blue sea from the Lérins Islands to the Estérel hills and, on clear days, the Saint-Tropez peninsula. The market for villas starts at 2 million euros, though most enquiries, and completions, range from 3 to 5 million euros. The Michaël Zingraf agency recently handled the sale of a house of 200 m2 in need of modernization, in grounds of 1,800 m2 on a private guarded estate, priced at 4 million euros. And, much rarer, that of a residence of 600 m2 in grounds of 6,000 m2, at 10.2 million euros. The files contain some very desirable properties, occasionally historic, such as the former home of Estée Lauder - a “Belle Epoque” villa of 450 m2, renovated throughout, with a garden of 1,280 m2 - pegged at 9,850,000 €. While the market’s cruising speed is satisfactory, Angie Delattre is hoping to see the effect of the return to exemption from capital gains tax after 22 years, and the introduction of a temporary discount of 25 % on sales concluded prior to August 31st, 2014.
