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Reuse radar

Montpellier

Montpellier publishes no list of empty buildings, and its open-data portal (944 datasets) has no dataset on vacancy, safety orders or property sales. What the radar can see is public property and past conversions: the State’s 2021 inventory lists five buildings handed back to its property service, among them the Customs regional office at 13 rue Rigaud and the offices of a road depot; the City owns the former departmental archives on avenue de Castelnau, 8,300 m² empty since September 2012, which it has now decided to give to its own archives; and since 2013 thirty permits have each created at least 300 m² of homes from offices (21), workshops, hotels and warehouses, nearly half of them in the centre. The office market is soft: BNP Paribas Real Estate puts vacancy at 6.1% at the end of June 2026, with 42,000 m² let in six months.
An empty building in Montpellier with homes, balconies and neighbours drawn onto it in ink
Empty buildings on record
28
from 11 open sources
Vacant office space
6.1%
of the office stock
Homes potential
—
not in the economic model’s office data yet

Office figures: BNP Paribas Real Estate, end of June 2026 — a 6.1% vacancy rate for Montpellier (the average of the eight cities it tracks is 7.0%) and 42,000 m² taken up in the first half of 2026; the report gives no vacant floor area for Montpellier. Map built 2026-10-09.

Empty buildings in Montpellier

One point per building, from public records, open data and cited reports. Filter by type, size and how sure the evidence is; open one to see who says so and whether it could become homes.

There is no open list of empty buildings or homes: the national vacant-homes file (LOVAC) is restricted to public authorities, and no City list of vacant buildings was found.

Loading map…
Colour = type of building named officially likely reported
Missing a building?

Check any building in Montpellier: could it become homes, and could the EHC model work there?

1 more building in Montpellier reported in the news, not yet on the map

The articles do not give an address we could place, so these have no pin yet. From news reports, summed up in our own words with a link to each article — not checked on site by EHC.

  • commissariat de la Comédie — reported demolition planned · formerly public building · Public ownerTeaser: the Comédie police station building was demolished over two days as part of the Esplanade works. Midi Libre (monthly archive) (2025-02-06)

Where conversion makes sense, and who to talk to

The districts where empty space, the right zoning and a working neighbourhood come together, and the owners and programmes that open a door. 6.1% of the office stock stands empty (the floor area is not published).

A hand outlining a neighbourhood on a city map, with small houses drawn inside

Centre — Comédie, Gare Saint-Roch and Antigone

Nearly half of the city’s conversion permits (14 of 30) lie within about 900 m of the Comédie, mostly small conversions, among them 741 m² of offices at 5 rue du Chapeau Rouge and 709 m² at 10 avenue Chancel.

  • 14 of the 30 conversion permits since 2013 within about 900 m, the largest 964 m² at 2 boulevard Ledru-Rollin (Sitadel)
  • 23 of the 78 service buildings of four storeys or more without homes (BD TOPO)
  • The City’s Grand Cœur programme looks for vacant or under-used buildings, wasteland and badly built plots inside the centre (OPAH-RU 2022–2027)

Risk: Montpellier’s protected historic centre and its high prices: conversions are small (the largest permit is 964 m²), so a co-op would be working building by building.

3 sources

Port Marianne and the Millénaire

The south-eastern business quarter around the Millénaire: 23 tall service buildings and four Cartofriches sites lie within about 1.3 km.

  • 23 service buildings of four storeys or more without homes (BD TOPO)
  • Four Cartofriches sites within the same radius (Cerema)
  • Four conversion permits since 2013 (Sitadel)

Risk: Few conversions so far: four permits since 2013, the largest 790 m² of offices at 79 avenue de Palavas; nothing in the data says these buildings are empty.

3 sources

Castelnau and Boutonnet

Where the City holds its largest empty building, the former departmental archives (8,300 m²), and where six conversion permits have created homes since 2013.

  • Former archives: empty since September 2012, City-owned since 2013, to house the City’s archives by 2027 (RFGenealogie, 20 Nov 2024)
  • Six conversion permits since 2013 within about 1.2 km (Sitadel)

Risk: The City has already chosen the use of the archives building; the neighbourhood has few tall service buildings (three).

2 sources

Signals to watch

Decisions, auctions and closures that change what becomes available, and when.

  1. 2026-08-01Office vacancy at 6.1% and lettings at 42,000 m²

    BNP Paribas Real Estate: Montpellier vacancy 6.1% at the end of June 2026 and 42,000 m² taken up in the first half; vacancy across eight regional cities rose from 6.1% to 7.0% in a year.

    1 source
  2. 2026-07-03New law on housing in public buildings

    Law no. 2026-553 of 29 June 2026 lets housing projects on public land depart from the plan’s destination rules if at least half the homes go to public agents.

    1 source
  3. 202613,733 private homes empty, 2,522 for two years or more

    Cerema's LOVAC file (tax records) counts 13,733 private homes vacant on 1 January 2025, 2,522 of them for two years or more, against 150,384 private homes. The 2026 edition changed method, so it runs above earlier years; the address-level file goes only to local authorities.

    1 source
1 earlier signal
  1. 2024-11-20
    City decides what the former departmental archives become

    The 8,300 m² building, empty since 2012, is to house the municipal and metropolitan archives and a history centre by 2027, for €20 million.

    1 source

Sources, and what we cannot see

22 sources connected, 1 waiting for access. We only use data we may lawfully reuse; where a publisher blocks automated access we do not work around it — a person downloads it, or we ask for permission.

Every source, its licence and when we last read it
SourceAccessRecordsStatusLicence
OpenStreetMap disused/abandoned tags and brownfields
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API38Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Rail, S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations (OpenStreetMap)
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Building heights: GlobalBuildingAtlas (TU Munich)
Zhu, X. X., Chen, S., Zhang, F., Shi, Y., Wang, Y. (2025), Technical University of Munich
GlobalBuildingAtlas: an open global and complete dataset of building polygons, heights and LoD1 3D models. Earth System Science Data 17(12), 6647–6668, doi:10.5194/essd-17-6647-2025. Read from the Parquet copy on Source Cooperative. Satellite-derived heights (typically 1.5–3 m error in Europe), turned into storeys with storey heights fitted on Berlin; used only where no register or official 3D model sizes the building.
Open download1 buildings sizedLive
2026-10-09
CC BY-NC 4.0 (heights); footprints from OpenStreetMap and Microsoft: ODbL
Storeys and heights: BD TOPO buildings (IGN)
Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière (IGN)
Source : IGN – BD TOPO®. Recorded storeys (nombre_d_etages) where given, else the eaves height (lowest roof above lowest ground).
Open API42 buildings sizedLive
2026-10-09
Licence Ouverte 2.0 (Etalab)
Road noise (EU Environmental Noise Directive, Lden)
European Environment Agency
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
EEA standard re-use policy (attribution)
Leerstandsmelder.de — public reports of empty buildings
Leerstandsmelder (Gängeviertel e.V., Hamburg)
Shown while we ask Leerstandsmelder for permission. Reports since 2016 only, with the address, the month reported and a link to each entry; not checked by EHC. Each point says when a report has since been marked demolished, lived in, in interim use or rebuilt on Leerstandsmelder, and the owner type the reporter gave (private owners are never named).
Asking for permission0Pending
2026-10-09
Credited to Leerstandsmelder.de; asking for permission
Open-ended property funds: buildings they report partly empty
Open-ended real-estate funds (each point names its fund and report)
German and Austrian open-ended public property funds must list every property with its vacancy (or letting) rate in their annual and half-year reports. scripts/reuse/import-fund-reports.ts reads those lists; properties at 10 % vacancy or more are shown, those at 25 % or more count as evidence.
Open download0Live
2026-10-09
Published fund report (KAGB / KARBV property list), cited per point
Co-working spaces, department stores, banks, hotels and cinemas listed as permanently closed
Overture Maps Foundation (closure data: BrightQuery company records)
Places with operating_status "permanently_closed" in the monthly Overture release, read by scripts/reuse/import-overture-closures.ts and matched to the building they sit in. A closed business is usually one unit; names are shown only for companies, never for sole traders.
Open download0Live
2026-10-09
CDLA Permissive 2.0 (Overture Maps Foundation)
Land without current use and stalled construction, mapped from satellite imagery (Copernicus Urban Atlas 2006–2018)
European Environment Agency — Copernicus Land Monitoring Service
Urban Atlas class 13400 (brownfields, demolition sites and gaps in the built-up area, 0.25 ha and up) compared across the 2006, 2012 and 2018 editions, so each plot says how long it has stood unused; plus construction sites (13300) already under way in 2012, and 2012 construction sites left unused by 2018. Read from the EEA's open ArcGIS services, the same way in every radar city. The 2021 edition (Copernicus Data Space) drops plots built on since 2018 where scripts/reuse/import-urban-atlas-2021.ts has been run. Points are context, never evidence of vacancy.
Open API81Live
2026-10-09
Copernicus open data (© European Union, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service 2006–2021, EEA)
Stalled construction and buildings held by insolvent developers
EHC research (dated press and court sources per point)
Signa, Adler/Consus and other developer insolvencies since 2022 and stalled sites, each with its latest dated status (src/scripts/data/reuse/stalled-projects.json; news leads from scripts/reuse/mine-news.ts are reviewed before they join).
EHC research0Live
2026-10-09
Cited publisher per point
Church buildings the dioceses and regional churches plan to give up
Catholic dioceses and Protestant regional churches (their building plans), via EHC research
Buildings a church body’s published building plan or recent reporting names as to be given up, without church funding, for sale or lease, or profaned (src/scripts/data/reuse/church-plans.json and brussels-churches.json).
EHC research0Live
2026-10-09
Cited publisher per point
Named buildings and sites from EHC research (each with its own source)
European Housing Coop research
Includes the library’s public lighthouse conversions (src/scripts/data/reuse/lighthouses.json), shown under "Already converting" with a link to their library page.
EHC research4Live
2026-10-09
Facts cited to their publishers
Listed buildings: Mérimée (monuments historiques)
Ministère de la Culture (Plateforme ouverte du patrimoine)
Buildings classés or inscrits as monuments historiques, wholly or in part (the part is named). A monument counts when its point lies in the record’s BD TOPO outline or on its façade (within 3 m).
Open downloadscoringLive
2026-10-09
Licence Ouverte 2.0 (Etalab)
Year built: IGN BD TOPO buildings
Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière (IGN)
The date a building appeared (date_d_apparition, from the land tax files) of the BD TOPO building a record sits in.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
Licence Ouverte 2.0 (Etalab)
Year built and listing: OpenStreetMap building tags
OpenStreetMap contributors
start_date / construction_date and heritage / listed_status of the OpenStreetMap outline a record is matched to, where no register answers. Read with the outline match, not a separate query.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Permits turning offices, shops and public buildings into homes (Sitadel, 2013–2026)
SDES (Ministry for Ecological Transition) — Sitadel, list of planning permits creating homes
Open download30Live
2026-10-09
Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
Brownfields with a project, and unchecked former industrial sites (Cartofriches)
Cerema — Cartofriches (sites référencés, edition 7 October 2026)
Open download13Live
2026-10-09
Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
Service buildings of four storeys or more with no homes (IGN BD TOPO)
IGN – BD TOPO, via the Géoplateforme
Open API78Live
2026-10-09
Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
State-owned offices and administrative buildings (State property inventory, 2021)
DGFiP — Direction de l'immobilier de l'État, Parc de l'immobilier de l'État au 31/12/2021 (data.economie.gouv.fr)
Open API58Live
2026-10-09
Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
State buildings handed back to the State's property service for disposal (State property inventory, 2021)
DGFiP — Direction de l'immobilier de l'État, Parc de l'immobilier de l'État au 31/12/2021 (data.economie.gouv.fr)
Open API5Live
2026-10-09
Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
State land recorded as wasteland (State property inventory, 2021)
DGFiP — Direction de l'immobilier de l'État, Parc de l'immobilier de l'État au 31/12/2021 (data.economie.gouv.fr)
Open API8Live
2026-10-09
Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
Buildings named in the news (each with its article)
Local and national press, read by EHC
Buildings the news reports empty, for sale or to let, to be demolished or being converted (src/scripts/data/reuse/news-building-leads.json; rules in src/lib/reuse/news-layer.ts). A report that names a building already on the map is shown on its card instead of a second point; one an open source contradicted, or that says the building is in use, is left out. Not checked on site.
EHC research8Live
2026-10-14
Facts with a link to the article; the one-line summary is ours — no article text is republished
Probable era: estimated from a street photo (Panoramax, Mapillary, Google Street View)
Panoramax and Mapillary contributors; Google Street View (research use agreed with Google, 14 Oct 2026); estimate by EHC with a vision model
Where no register dates a building: its era read from a Panoramax or Mapillary photo looking at it — Google Street View only where no open photo answers (scripts/reuse/estimate-photo-eras.ts), only when the building is clearly visible and the model is confident, and only as “before 1945” or “1945 or later” — the split it got right for 89% of buildings with a register year in Amsterdam and Paris, and 89% from Street View pictures alone (photo-eras/calibration.json). An estimate: a sentence in the conversion check, never points.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-14
Open photos CC BY-SA 4.0 or Licence Ouverte 2.0 (per picture); Street View read for research only, never stored or shown; only the estimated era is published, never a photo

What this radar cannot see yet

  • There is no open list of empty buildings or homes: the national vacant-homes file (LOVAC) is restricted to public authorities, and no City list of vacant buildings was found.
  • Building safety orders (péril, mise en sécurité) are individual acts and none are published in a list; the City’s "Mission Grand Cœur" dataset on data.gouv.fr (last changed May 2015) has no files attached.
  • The metropolitan open-data portal (data.montpellier3m.fr, 944 datasets) holds building layers with use and age but nothing on vacancy, ruins or property sales.
  • Live disposals of State property (cessions.immobilier-etat.gouv.fr) answer "Access Denied" (403) to automated requests; the inventory used here dates from 2021 and has no occupancy or sale status.
  • Prefecture press releases about evicted squats in empty buildings (for instance rue Rigaud) would name more vacant State and private buildings, but the prefecture’s site (herault.gouv.fr) refused automated requests (HTTP/2 error), so none was read.
  • BNP Paribas Real Estate gives a vacancy rate and take-up for Montpellier but no vacant floor area; Cushman & Wakefield’s and CBRE’s Montpellier reports were not read.

Know an empty building we have missed?

Open data cannot see everything. Tell us about a building in Montpellier that stands empty or barely used; once we have checked it, it joins the map under “Reported by visitors (checked)”.

A phone held up to photograph an empty shopfront, with a map pin drawn above it

We publish the address, the kind of building and your description once we have checked it — never your email. Please do not name the people who own or live in a building.

Radars nearby

The other radars in the same country and the nearest beyond. All 149 cities in the atlas

The figure on each card: empty buildings on record.

Andorra la Vella, Andorra2empty buildings on recordBarcelona, Spain1,248empty buildings on recordBordeaux, France171empty buildings on recordLille, France56empty buildings on recordLyon, France54empty buildings on recordMarseille, France471empty buildings on recordMonaco, Monaco2empty buildings on recordNantes, France45empty buildings on recordNice, France48empty buildings on recordParis, France60empty buildings on recordStrasbourg, France30empty buildings on recordToulouse, France74empty buildings on recordTurin, Italy100empty buildings on record