Les Ravines: From car park to luxury development, Meribel Centre

If you use Méribel’s town centre outdoor car park, les Ravines, you will have noticed it has shrunk in size and major engineering works are being carried out. So what’s happening to our favourite free parking area? Les Ravines is the site of a new development which will contain underground car parking, an up-market tourist residence, bars and restaurants.

French property giant Pierre et Vacances has been awarded the contract to build a 5-star “résidence de tourisme” which will offer 584 beds in the form of two- to five-roomed luxury apartments with hotel services, pool and gym. Three hundred underground car parking spaces will be created for the general public, as well as 147 places for Pierre et Vacances. A pedestrian bridge over the main road will join the new development to Méribel town centre, and businesses, including a bars and a brasserie, will complete the new area. Flood prevention work costing over 4 million euros has already started.

Why does Méribel need such an enormous new résidence? The resort currently lacks “lits chauds”, literally “hot beds”, i.e. accommodation which is filled throughout the season. In the past few years, several hotels have been turned into lesser-used private apartments with a negative impact on the resort’s economy. And if you have ever been forced to play ‘excavate the buried car’ in Les Ravines car park after heavy snowfalls, you will appreciate why covered car parks in a ski resort is a Good Idea.

The project is expected to be completed in 2018.