In the face the UMP has installed his seat

Hundred metres just separate, as the crow flies, the terrace of the opulent building of the Elysée. This same Observatory, a stone's throw enough to join the Ministry of the Interior! The Embassy of Great Britain is not far away. The adjoining neighbor is other than Alcatel. The following building houses the National Federation of Credit Agricole. In the face, the UMP has installed his seat... This is that, for more than a half century, the CIA has elected home, 58 bis rue La Boétie, in the 8th arrondissement. In one of the most beautiful districts of Paris, in the heart of the economic and political power. However this cohabitation has not been passenger: it lasted fifty-five years, from 1948 to 2003.

Residents have imagined Difficult because the building is invisible from the street. The essence of the movement was by a path located at the rear of the building and giving rue de Courcelles. There, apart from the parish priest of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule, the closest neighbours were Préfon, the pension fund (American, precisely!) reserved for senior officials of the Republic and a little higher, the direction of the mineral waters branch of Nestlé.

"It is this double entry who had seduced the Americans," explains Philippe Couturier, Director General of Constructa and to rehabilitate the building before to find a tenant.

Marseilles home, the young manager is unlimited on the ins and outs of this record. It is true that there there is nothing trivial. First, the building. At its inauguration, in 1930, he appeared as the greatest building of offices never built in France. Designed to house the headquarters of oil company Jupiter, later become the Shell. Plans had been entrusted to the architect Lucien Bechmann, who had already designed the central building of the Fondation Deutsch of the Meurthe in the international city. A history of family, in sum, since this dynasty was also the main shareholder of the Shell.

His sober style, strongly Art Deco also earned him to be classified by the Historical Monuments. When he was commissioned to rebuild the interiors, architect François Ceria including should keep in the floors in told the Viennese tile coating.

A qualms were not embarrassed to previous occupants. When owners could definitely take possession of the premises, they found Faraday cages in parts. In other places, facilities had begun, visibly by professionals from the United States.

Wall anti-attentat

By its triple Hat sponsor, vendor, and Manager, Constructa is broken in such operations of rehabilitation, but like that ever. "We could not just visit before signing", remembers Nadira Yahiaoui, responsible of the file. Even after the sale in 2003, and vigils continued to prohibit access to certain parts. Yet, according to Philippe Couturier, all gave the impression dated "of a savings in the 1950s".

But how a small "frenchie" could happen to deal with the State Department The explanation lies in an episode of the history of Constructa. This company created in 1965 by Marc Pietri went to try his luck in the United States in 1992. It imported a common concept, France less: the "asset management". This is to rid the financial institutions of their rental and real estate management concerns. Therefore, the company came into contact with the Peabody American at the time where it was acquired by the Parisian building of the CIA. This investment fund combines money from pension funds and of wealthy individuals, including actress Julia Roberts, which would surely be surprised to learn that she is co-owner of the former cell of the CIA in France.

Peabody was looking for a local specialist to manage its affairs. He commissioned Constructa. Since then, this company well unwittingly follows the tribulations of the Intelligence Agency in the capital. In 2003, the CIA, which has need of place, takes his vest on the rue de Monceau 61. A prestigious address giving both on the street and a magnificent garden. It is the former mansion of Edouard Stern, banker found dead in Geneva. Well before his disappearance, he surrendered it to a German Fund.

Everything was ready to be signed. A traffic plan had even been implemented with the Prefecture of police. The proximity of the Embassy of Algeria was even not experienced as a problem. This who asked one, on the contrary, and size, it is the will to construct a wall anti-attentats of 5 metres high in full Park Monceau. Finally, the case capotera... Us remember that they have a piece of land avenue Gabriel, an extension of their Embassy. But the prestigious neighbours in this area don't appreciate the idea to see grow a bunker. CIA refers in desperation on another building managed by Constructa, 14, boulevard Haussmann: in the same walls that "Le Figaro", where the relationship, it is doubted, are delicate. To the extent that the CIA will continue to move. Before that she return rue La Boétie...