Virtual Office

Paris virtual office & Office Space

Why would i need a virtual office in Paris?

Paris has always been one of the most popular cities in the world. With its cultural attractions, architectural beauty and tourist spots, Paris is also renowned as a center for finance, commerce, and fashion consolidating in the largest business district in Europe, La Defense. Indeed, the city itself is also the second largest metropolitan area in Europe, parallel to London, with a large population of 11 million and a GDP of US$ 497 billion in 2003.

La Defense as the major business district of Paris and spans between the Grande Arche on the western end, and the Esplanade de la Defense on the eastern end. This area consists of 3,000,000 square meters of offices, hosting a workplace for more than 150,000 employees. La Defense was developed through the creation of the Public Establishment for Installation of La Défense in 1958. Many high-rise buildings were built in order to replace the existing farms and factories located at the area. Now, other than being the main business district of Paris, La Defense also incorporates greenery, sculptures and monuments as well as hotels for the comfort of business travelers.

Through careful planning, it was originally decided that there would 20 buildings of 25 stories in height to be built in the La Defense area. However, in the end as most companies wanted taller towers, many of the buildings that were actually built exceeded this height. The tallest commercial building in this area is the GAN building, measuring at 589 feet. These rows of buildings in La Defense now form the skyline of Paris.

The GAN building consisting of 48 floors and offering over 70000 square feet of floor space is a black building located at Place de l’Iiris within the La Defense area. Apart from that, another building within La Defense is the Société Générale tower, which consists of 2 identical towers namely the Chassagne tower and the Alicante tower. Located at 17, Cours Valmy, this building stands at 569 feet tall in which the main tenant is the Société Générale bank. Some of the other buildings in the La Defense area include the Tours Kupka, Tour SCOR, Tour Axa, Tour Europlaza, Tour Ariane, Tour Manhattan and Tour Aréva. Apart from that, many large corporations that have set up their offices within this area include AIG, Dawn, France Telecom and Veritas.

The La Defense area is actually divided into several sections: La Defence 1 located on the east most section, is where the Neptune building and the AXA Tower is located, as well as IBIS and Novotel hotels. La Defense 2 is where the AIG building, France Telekom, Gan Tower and Manhattan Tower are located. Next to it at La Defense 3 is the Eurocourtage and Les Mirrors, the Coeur Defense at La Defense 4 – the middle of the entire La Defense area, while La Defense 5 is where Descartes, Balzac, Elipse, Monge, Fayette, Jean Monnet, Lavoisier and Newton offices are at. La Defense 6 is the location of CNIT, Technip and Berkerley Building. Tour Valmy and the Four Seasons hotel are located at La Defense 7, the Winterthur and the Franklin buildings are in La Defense 8. La Defense 9 is the area where Crédit Lyonnais and Ariane offices are located, La Defense 10 is where the offices of Acacia, Michelet, Coface, Elf Atochem and AGF Athena lie. With so many sky scrapers and high profile buildings located in the La Defense area, this location would be the best area for a virtual office, as it will offer much prestige associated with the neighboring buildings.

The tallest building in Paris other than the Eiffel Tower is the Tour Montparnasse. This building had been conceptualized in the 1950s and is located at the area of Montparnasse-Bienvenue. Much controversy surrounded this building particularly on its height which many felt intruded the skyline. An observatory is located at the 56th and 59th of the building, much to the delight of tourists. This building which had taken 17 years to complete had one of the faster elevators at the time when it was newly completed.

The fashion industry or haute couture is another area that Paris is internationally famous for. Champs-Elysees runs 3 kilometers from Place de la Concorde to Arc de Triomphe in the West.  Indeed, Champs-Elysees is the place of high rentals, tree lined avenues and most importantly the boulevard of fashion in Paris. Although you may find some financial institutions in this area, such as Citibank and Credit Suisse, the specialty shops predominantly in this area are the high-fashion boutiques with brand names such as Louis Vuitton, Aramis and Yves Rocher. Apart from that, there is also a string of tourist agencies and airline companies as well as a host of high class restaurants. Therefore, having a virtual office in this area would be suitable for companies that focus on creating a superior brand name, such as tourist agencies, fashion companies and food and beverage companies.

Finally, Paris is the symbol of international prestige, which is why having a virtual office in this city would ensure that your organization will be viewed with high esteem. Moreover, the well planned and structured La Defense area would well suit corporate organizations in various trade and finance industries, providing them with the international image that they seek. Companies seeking to set up a virtual office within Europe should look to Paris as a likely candidate.