The campus will extend from the national library (between the Pont de Bercy and the Pont de Tolbiac) along the Seine to the Pont National and will include the Paris campus of the University of Chicago. It is hoped that this “Université des Grands Moulins” will revive the area, and rumors abound that it will become a new “Quartier Latin”.

Integrated within Paris city limits in 1860, the Masséna quartier was previously best known as the location of the “Grands Moulins de Paris” providing the flour for Parisian bakeries. Despite the construction of bridges linking it with the right bank (Pont National, Pont de Bercy, and Pont de Tolbiac) the area remained largely undeveloped fields.

Urban development began in earnest in the 1950’s but the riverfront remained largely industrial due to the presence of railroad tracks from the Gare d’Austerlitz. The Rue du Chevaleret is currently the site of some major residential development, but remains a marginal zone due to its proximity to the exposed tracks. Once the new University project is finished, there will be 900,000 square meters of office space and 300,000 square meters of shops and other facilities. This part of the 13th, long isolated from contact with the Seine, will then connect to the river via a vast elevated structure built above the tracks.

It’s hoped that with these new features, the Masséna area will once again become a major part of Parisian life.