page_title: Gare du Sud
section_title: Restoration and redevelopment
hierarchical_section_title: Gare du Sud / Restoration and redevelopment
caption_attribution_description: Back of Gare du Sud, Nice.
context_page_description: The Gare du Sud is a former French railway station located in the Libération quarter of the city of Nice in south-east France. The station was the terminus of the metre gauge railway of the Chemins de Fer de Provence rail company which links Nice to Digne-les-Bains in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. The station was closed in December 1991 when it was replaced by the Gare de Nice CP station. It remained derelict until 2013, when the station building was renovated and converted into a library.
context_section_description: The facade of the old station building was listed as a historic monument in 2002 and the train shed was listed in 2005. Although the station had been saved, its future remained uncertain for some time and several projects were proposed. One was for a number of artistic associations which had no proper base to move into the building. Another was the controversial proposal to transfer Nice's town hall to the station site.
  Following the failure of the 2000 demolition project, the town asked architect Pierre-Louis Faloci to create a new design which would preserve the entire passenger building as well as the metal train shed. His design  proposed the erection above the station of a vast porch roof, a "shade", to be covered with 2000 square meters of electricity producing solar panels. The proposal also included the construction of a media library and sports complex, as well as the rehabilitation of the School of Fine Arts, and creation of a 1300-space parking lot. The design was approved by the Ministry of Culture on 12 May 2005.
  The first phase of the project, the internal and external renovation of the station building, took place in 2013. Work was completed by December of that year and the building was re-opened on 4 January 2014. The new Raoul Mille library has been incorporated into the station's former waiting room and the building now houses multimedia rooms, meeting rooms and a climate-controlled storage basement. The second phase of the project involves the restoration of the train shed site. There are plans for a shopping centre, cinema, sports facilities, housing and underground car park, and the return of Gustave Eiffel's listed train shed. The plans were initially opposed by councillor Jean Claude Mari. However, he dropped legal proceedings in November 2014, allowing the city of Nice and the developers to begin work. The underground car park had been completed by the middle of 2016 and it was anticipated at that time that the renovation of the former train shed would be completed by 2017 with other facilities expected to open during the second quarter of 2018. The project won the Pyramide d'or, the highest award of the Fédération des Promoters Immobilisers in 2016. In March 2018, during ongoing redevelopment work, the main hall was temporarily opened to the public to house an exhibition by the Salon du Vintage. On 10 May 2019 it was confirmed that the hall's inauguration was scheduled for 17 May 2019 with its public opening on the next day.
caption: The back of Nice's derelict Gare du Sud station, 2006.
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