In the heart of Beauce, the commune of Mer, surrounded by cereal fields and bordered by interchange 16 of the A10 motorway, has become, in less than seven years, an El Dorado for logistics platforms. Colissimo, Relay, But.fr, Lapeyre and Mitsubishi had already taken up residence there. But, as the online trade of imported goods prospers and as “D + 1” delivery becomes widespread, other players have appeared.
The Chinese Aosom.fr, specialist in garden decoration, is one of the latest arrivals. A new 49,000 square meter warehouse is looking for its future occupant, for an annual rent of 44 euros per square meter, 13 less than in Ile-de-France. It is not far from there, at the entrance to the Portes de Chambord business park, that the members of the Mérois collective “Down with concrete”, born in 2021, will meet on Sunday February 20 in the morning. will be joined by two similar movements established in Vierzon and Orléans. “So much artificial land for what kind of future for our children? », states their press release.
With its abandoned farms and abandoned mattress factories, Mer had become a disaster-stricken dormitory town with a large land reserve made up of agricultural land and industrial wastelands. It is from this loot that the community draws copiously to attract entrepreneurs. Catella, Concerto, Panhard, Alsei: its current buyers are major players in logistics real estate. The latter obtained, on October 28, 2021, prefectural authorization for a 37,480 square meter warehouse project intended to partly store combustible products, despite a negative opinion from the municipal council (with 16 abstentions) returned a month earlier.
In 2020, to general indifference, the community of communes Beauce Val de Loire had released other precious plots, 1,500 meters from the communal cemetery, on the other side of the A10 and near the Natura 2000 classified site of Little Beauty. In muffled words, she had announced that she wanted to “pursue significant economic development with a strong focus on logistics”. It is on the fields of the former Cent Planches farm, next to a 7-hectare solar park inaugurated in the fall of 2021, that 16 hectares of buildings will come into existence at the end of 2023, including three warehouses of 100 000 square meters, 40,000 square meters and 20,000 square meters.
“Huge investments”
The promoter has promised to preserve several groves which he describes as “tree screens” allowing to“obfuscate most visual perceptions in the direction of the Cent Planches”. Something to make you jump Sébastien (who did not wish to give his name), a 46-year-old hunter, whose family has resided in Mer for several generations. “When Mer was forested, there was a good population of animals. With the agricultural activity, game of plain had been established. With these platforms, everything is destroyed. Thousands of tons of concrete are already present, so a return to normal is impossible. I remember when, as a child, I used to go hunting with my father and my uncle in these places. It was pretty and pleasant, with plenty of game. It is part of my distant memories. »
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