Lyon (AFP)

The place attracted all of Lyon in the 80s before experiencing a long slump, punctuated by bankruptcy: the Rose Tower is reborn today thanks to the ingenious solutions found by four entrepreneurs to revive a place deemed unmanageable.

A maze of stairs, terraces and secret gardens nestled in the heart of Old Lyon - the Renaissance district wedged between the Saône and the slopes of Fourvière - the building welcomes from Wednesday a "food court" of chefs and 14 connected suites offering the comfort of a four star hotel.

It is the solution imagined to find an economic balance for this former hotel-restaurant famous for its jazz concerts which, despite its size, did not offer enough tables or rooms to be profitable.

On three levels, twelve cooks will prepare dishes based on fresh, local products directly in front of their customers. With each his own specialty, from Lyon cuisine to tapas, including grilled meat, pastry and pub food.

The "Food traboule", thus baptized with reference to the narrow covered public passages which cross the old districts of the city, appears "gastronomic" to distinguish itself from other shared dining spaces which flourish in Europe.

"I want to give meaning to the word + gastronomy +", launches Tabata Mey who, with her husband Ludovic, is in charge of the restoration part of the project. "Gastronomy doesn't have to be expensive. It's good with good products. A good roast chicken with good potatoes is gastronomic!".

Up to 240 people can take place from 11:00 to 23:00 in the seven rooms of the place, offering seven different atmospheres on 660 square meters.

- Tap on the fingers -

"The strength of our project is that the chefs have all proven themselves elsewhere," adds Ms. Mey, whose restaurant Les Apothicaires is one of the most prominent in Lyon.

The cooks at Food Traboule, all independent, were selected by the Mey couple who will be there - dixit madam - "to type on the fingers if the quality requirements are not met".

Some of the chiefs announced finally gave up, the project having taken a year behind schedule due to the difficulty of reconfiguring the places in this safeguarded historic zone.

The project also made it possible to hire eight refugees, assigned to tasks common to restaurateurs (diving, clearing tables, etc.). The place also wants to be ecological, with the installation of two dehydrators - "at 30,000 euros each!" - which will transform leftover food into compost.

On the hotel side, the 14 rooms will be managed by MiHotel, a small Lyon-based company that manages suites scattered in opulent buildings in beautiful neighborhoods, offering services comparable to those of a hotel thanks to sophisticated IT.

As always with MiHotel, none of the suites designed by designer Nathalie Rives is identical.

- "Pompeï" -

Unoccupied for three years, the building required considerable renovation work.

"When I visited the place, it seemed that everyone had run away and that time had stopped. There was still a shirt placed on an ironing board with the iron next to it", remembers the mayor of the 5th arrondissement Béatrice Gailliout.

"It was Pompeï", sums up Nathalie Grynbaum, one of two co-founders of MiHotel.

"We took enormous risks, but we believe in it," assume Tabata and Ludovic Mey who financed alone, with their bank, the nearly 3 million euros of the site. MiHôtel has also paid its share of the renovation, while in its usual model, the work is carried out by an outside investor.

The project was strongly supported by the city which had bought the building a few years ago to save it from ruin, via its SACVL property company, and ensured the facelift.

"It is good that a quality project gives new life to this place," says Ms. Gailliout.

It remains to bring the Lyonnais back to a neighborhood they have largely deserted since it sold to mass tourism.

© 2020 AFP