Since 1999, Mr Vincent BENVENUTI studies the real estate market of Marrakech. Jemma el Fna real estate is created and established in one of the most strategic point of the ?Red city?, boulevard Mohamed V.
Today, reinforced by his experiences and his French-Moroccan team, Jemaa el Fna disposes of more than 700 values, situated in Marrakech, Essaouira, Rabat, Fes and Agadir.
MARRAKECH
Marrakech is berber origin and more africaan than arab. It has been the country?s capital on two occasions. Firstly when it was founded in the 11th century by Berber Muslim tribesmen, the Almoravids and again, in the 16th century, during the Saadians dynasty. The city was built by the Almoravid leader, Youssef Ben Tachfine, who chose it as a place to pitch camp based on its location on a warm plain protected from the Saharan winds by the mountains. He immediately constructed a Kasbah and a mosque and to overcome the water shortage, planted pipes (khetara) made out of baked mud in the ground, to carry water into the city, from the High atlas, still in evidence around the Palmeraie just outside the city. When Youssef died, his son, Ali succeeded him and built the city?s original ramparts. In 1147, after many battles, Marrakech eventually fell to the vehemently religious, Almoravids who became the next dynasty. After demolishing many of the Almoravids main monuments, the Almohads rebuilt Marrakech adding such relics as the Koutoubia mosque, which had to be rebuilt 50 years later as the previous one was not completely in the line with Mecca, the El Mansour mosque and Bab Agnaou, the gateway to the Kasbah, all of which are still very much in existence today.
MARRAKECH TODAY
The Marrakech of today is basking in the glory of yet another heyday. Home to some of the world?s most beautiful gardens, hotels, houses and monuments, resided in by some the world?s most famous designers, writers, artists and entrepreneurs, host to the glamorous International Film festival and recipient of over one-third of all visitors to the country, a figure set to rise in line with vision 2010.
It is a city of noise, entertainment and color that thrives on attention and appears to blossom the busier it gets. From the snake charmers, storytellers and acrobats of Jemaa el Fna (see below) to the hustling, playful chitchat in the souks, the honking horns on Avenue Mohammed V, the dashing bursts of bougainvillea and the art galleries, exhibitions and boutiques, it is a city where the old and new seamlessly join and you feel as comfortable on the black of a braying mule as you do in the front of a polished 4×4.
It is also a city where in amongst the opulence and affluence, there is severe poverty. Migrants from the rural Atlas looking for work to feed their families, beggars and street children rifling through dustbins, hustling tourist and conning the naive in order to get a bite to eat or a scattering of loose change
Once recommended by Winston Churchill as having the air to cure bronchitis, it is now one of Morocco?s most polluted cities where every road is a traffic jam and the smell of fumes, overpowering.
Despite this, investment in Marrakech is soaring. The combination of a young, forward thinking monarch and a highly effective regional governor Mohammed Hassad has done much to improve the quality of life in the city. Social housing projects are underway to get the city?s poorest out of the shantytowns, the bureaucracy, notorious for impeding investment and entreneurialism has been hacked down to manageable sized chunks and touts who harass foreigners are at risk of arrest by heavy-handed tourist police.
The main investors are the French many of whom still feel they have something of a hold over the city and, expatriate Moroccans looking for a project they can sink their hard earned foreign currency into. The last five years, though, have seen a sharp growth in the number of British people buying property in Marrakech either as second homes, guesthouses or holiday lets.
ESSAOUIRA
Essaouira is arguably Morocco?s most loved town. Its 10 Km of sandy, white beach, dunes and sea dotted with windsurfs, the whitewashed UNESCO protected medina enclosed within pink sandstone ramparts, the lively, bustling fishing port and colourful wooden boats, fish grills, souks, artisan workshop, art galleries and white paved piazzas have long appealed to artists, musicians and cosmopolitan crowds of visitors. Jimmy Hendrix, Orson Welles and Hollywood directors Ridely Scott and Oliver Stone have all lived or worked in the medina, located on the south west coast of Morocco in between Agadir and Casablanca.
ESSAOUIRA TODAY
For many, what most appeals about Essaouira is that everywhere is reachable on foot. There is very little need for a car in the town as the medina is compact and fully pedestrians, walk able from end to end in 20 minutes. The sea smacks against the medina walls and the beach is opposite the southern gate. The Ville nouvelle is outside Bab Doukalla, to the north of the medina with streets as bustling as inside the walls. The fact that the layout of the medina was specifically designed as opposed to simply evolved like many of Morocco?s more sprawling cities, means that it is easy to navigate.
PLANS OF ESSAOUIRA
The town has been chosen as one of the six cities to be developed with a luxury costal resort, in line with the government?s Plan Azur. The Belgian luxembourgeois group, Thomas Piron/ TPR l?atelier is responsible for station balneaire de Mogador, the 356 hectares site 4 km south of Essaouira , which is currently under construction, due to be complete around 2008. There will be 525 luxury villas, 32 hotels and guesthouse, 2 golf courses, spas, a beach club, cafés, parks and gardens. Quite what the impact of this will be on properties in the medina is not yet clear. Essaouira has always prided itself on being a town that attracts independent travellers as opposed to large package tour groups. Such a development will bring different clientele to the town, it might also decrease business for guesthouse and holiday lets inside the medina as more people stay in the luxury resort visiting the medina only for day trips. On a positive note, it is expected to give a boost to both the local economy and employment rates in the area, although the lack of educational institutes in Essaouira means that highly skilled personnel are traditionally, sourced from the big cities such as Casablanca, leaving the lowlier, unskilled positions to the locals.