An “French-style Oxford”. This is how Frédéric Mion, the former director of Sciences Po, presented the new campus, located in Place Saint-Thomas d’Aquin, in the heart of the 7th district of Paris. This former Dominican novitiate, rehabilitated by the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, was inaugurated on January 28, 2022 by his successor Mathias Vicherat, who did not fail to thank the City of Paris and the Ministry of Higher Education in particular. He could have added the Ministry of the Armed Forces, which sold him this building for 87 million euros. A broken price which would not reflect the reality of the market, according to the Court of Auditors. In a report that has remained confidential, that Challenges was able to consult, the magistrates even denounce a “disproportionate advantage”, granted to the school of the elite.
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No competition
This report, dated September 2021, takes stock of the real estate disposals of the Ministry of the Armed Forces between 2008 and 2020. It deplores in particular the excessively limited use of calls for tenders, which nevertheless allowed the State to carry out juicy operations: the Ilot Saint-Germain was thus sold to a Qatari fund for 368 million euros, while the evaluation of the services of the domain was only 222 million, and the Penthemont-Bellechasse complex, which housed the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, was sold to a property company for 137 million, against 77 million expected. Conversely, the Court castigates the transfers by mutual agreement, without competition, “particularly unfavorable to the State”, in the forefront of which is the sale of the Artillery to the National Foundation of Political Sciences (FNSP) .
The magistrates recall that Bercy had made, in 2009, a first estimate at 104 million, on the basis of an approximate footage, then revised to 125 million. In 2011, Richard Descoings, then head of Sciences Po, even sent a letter of intent to acquire the site for 130 million, which remained unanswered. Before the price gradually tumbles. In 2013, the property was first revalued by Bercy at 117 million. Then, in a context of promoting social housing, the safeguard plan for 7th district, is revised to provide for a quota of 30% of HLM, again pushing prices down.
A quasi-subsidy of 43 million euros
But Sciences Po obtained that the site be classified in the category of “constructions and installations necessary for public services or of collective interest”, effectively ruling out any other option than its own. LVMH (shareholder of Challenges), which will subsequently submit an offer of 100 million, will thus be dismissed from the outset. In a position of strength, the school therefore began by presenting a proposal for only 70 million. At the same time, the services of the domain revised the market value of the property to 90 million, despite an estimate of one of their private councils at 105 million. Then their evaluation then falls artificially to 85 million to take into account the construction of a large amphitheater and the fact that Sciences Po could not recover 10.5 million VAT.
Finally, the State topped, in May 2015, for a price of 87 million, after several months of haggling. Which then makes Frédéric Mion say that “the State has sold its skin dearly”. An analysis that the Court of Auditors obviously does not share, which thus concludes its passage on the Artillery operation: “while a first offer, formalized but remained at the intention stage, had been initially presented to 130 million euros by the buyer, the sale price finally accepted by the State appears as a quasi-subsidy of 43 million granted to the FNSP, which is not traced in the accounts of the State.
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