Tropicalia is a giant tropical greenhouse project that will be located in Pas-de-Calais.
Despite the founder's arguments, critics of the project denounce ecological nonsense.
The surprising success of the crowdfunding operation is, for Tropicalia, a pledge of public support for this project.
Tropicalia is the crazy project of a veterinarian who wanted to bring a bit of the tropics to the middle of Pas-de-Calais. Under a futuristic dome, whose temperature will be constantly maintained at 28 degrees, visitors will be able to admire fauna and flora from latitudes far removed from Hauts-de-France. An absolute heresy for some environmentalists. The critics did not give up on the project leader, Dr Cédric Guérin, who saw his ambition reinforced by the unexpected support of the inhabitants for his crowdfunding operation.
We are not going to return to the grievances of the project's detractors, in particular several associations and the ecologist MEP Karima Deli, nor to the arguments developed in return by the president and founder of Tropicalia.
According to the latter, moreover, the sling would have faded over time.
But if he needed a new argument, he could now brandish the success of the fundraising carried out with private investors.
“We were pleasantly surprised by the public's enthusiasm for our crowdfunding operation,” admits Cédric Guérin.
This resulted in fundraising three times greater than the targeted objective of 500,000 euros.
“An ultimate validation of the relevance of this project”
A nice sum, certainly, but which does not add much to the overall budget which is approaching 83 million euros. The founder also admits that he did not need this money to the point that the question arose of not launching this crowdfunding. "More than the financial side, this success satisfies us because it is an ultimate validation of the relevance of this project by the public", insists Dr. Guérin. Nevertheless, the offer was also particularly interesting for the new shareholders, their participation being able to be exempt from tax up to 25% with a remuneration of 10% on the basis of a forecast of 500,000 visitors per year.
The bulk of the budget must be completed before the summer of 2022. "It's on the right track, we're on the right timing," says the founder.
Despite everything, the coronavirus crisis caused the Tropicalia teams to lose a year on the provisional schedule.
A stand-by which however made it possible to select the contracting authority, the Eiffage group, and to secure the works budget at 63 million euros.
Cédric Guérin hopes that the construction site can begin next September with delivery scheduled for 2024.
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Crowdfunding
Architecture
Planet
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