50th Anniversary Prompts Restoration of Paris Venue

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 7/18/2005

French commercial property firm Unibail last month announced plans to renovate Paris Expo-CNIT La Defense, one of its seven convention centers in Paris.

The venue, which offers 20,000 square meters (215,278 square feet) of exhibit space, will complete its restoration in time for its 50th anniversary in 2008.

Unibail hopes to renew CNIT's image and reinforce the significance of the district around La Defense to neighboring regions. The modernization project will include renovation of meeting space and auditoriums, new outdoor patios spanned by a series of footbridges and the construction of an underground tunnel to link to the lower facility level.

Unibail also operates Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, with 220,000 sq. m. (2.4 million sq. ft.) of exhibit space. The firm, with a property portfolio valued at •7 billion ($8.8 billion), also invests in office buildings and shopping centers.

Unibail in March acquired 100 percent of Aprovia's show management firm Exposium for •228.5 million ($283 million).

Exposium, one of France's leading professional trade fair organizers, has a portfolio of 103 exhibitions, including the food show SIAL (Salon Intl. de l'Alimentaire) and agricultural supplies show SIMA (Mondial des Fournisseurs de l'Agriculture et de l'Elevage). SIAL, a biennial show in Paris, in 2004 attracted 136,374 attendees to a 2.1 million net sq. ft. showfloor. The firm also operates smaller SIAL versions in Montreal; Shanghai, China; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.