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Shopping Centers Today -> August 2002
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JEAN-LOUIS SOLAL HONORED BY FRENCH COUNCIL
By Debra Hazel
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| Solal is regarded as one of the industry’s leading European visionaries. |
French developer Jean-Louis Solal, a founder of ICSC Europe and also widely regarded as the father of the shopping center industry on the Continent, has been awarded the Trophée d’Honneur at the annual conference of the Conseil National des Centres Commerciaux (CNCC), the French national shopping center council.
“Jean-Louis Solal is very frequently considered to be the pope of the shopping center industry in France,” said Jean-Michel Silberstein, délégué général of CNCC.
Solal told SCT he was surprised to receive the award, created only three years ago. “I did not feel I deserved it.”
He may be the only person who feels that way.
“He’s one of the most humble people in the industry,” said Chris Igwe, managing director of ICSC Europe, who co-chaired an ICSC/MAPIC conference with Solal several years ago. “He does everything with incredible grace and dignity.”
Solal is founder of Paris-based Jean-Louis Solal Investissements; his development of Parly 2, Paris, and Cap 3000, in Saint-Lawrent du Var, near Nice, in the late 1960s brought the North American style of shopping center to France. Educated in the United States, Solal acknowledges that he was heavily influenced by American design and by ICSC.
“When I first built Parly 2, 32 years ago, I was totally inspired by the American model, the American paradigm,” he recalled, adding that he was criticized by some for it. The mall was based on Solal’s visits to Southdale Mall outside Minneapolis, the first enclosed mall in the United States. “But from day one, the center was successful.”
Out of that came other innovative projects, including urban centers and Ulis 2 in metro Paris, the first hypermarket-anchored center in the world, which he co-developed with Carrefour. The format helped to lower prices and make more goods available to all segments of the population. Subsequent centers introduced town center elements, such as skating rinks and cinemas.
With Diagonal Mar, he and Dallas-based partner firm Hines Interests built a new form of mixed-use center by creating a neighborhood with retail, hotels, apartments and parks on 15 city blocks in Barcelona.
“He is the pre-eminent pioneer of the shopping center industry, not just of France, but in Europe,” said ICSC Vice Chairman John T. Riordan.
ICSC’s annual European management and marketing awards are named for Solal, who has chaired numerous ICSC conferences and panels over the years, serving as a mentor to many industry professionals.
Solal has also continued to develop properties. Diagonal Mar opened in November, and Solal is currently planning La Fiesta Center, a retail and entertainment center outside Paris, only minutes from Parly 2.
The 74-year-old Solal is gradually handing the reins to daughter Marie-Christine, an architect and urban planner trained at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.
The award was presented by Charles Joye, founder of Geneva-based Retail & Development Services, who received the CNCC honor last year.
“I’ve never been motivated by greed, but by the desire to be trustworthy and to deserve the confidence placed in me by retailers, bankers and others,” Solal said. “I cannot be a good developer if I don’t think of my retailers, my customers.”
 | Current Issue December 2008 |