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Where are the main business districts in Paris and its suburbs?

Paris Attitude
| | Read : 4 min

If you are a business or professional person in Paris you can enjoy living and working in or near the capital's main business districts.

Paris is home to many business districts each one having its own distinctive features. Whether ultra-modern or more historic, Parisian business districts are always a hive of activity that springs to life during the working day. Paris Attitude offers you places to live in these business districts meaning you can enjoy living in luxury near your office!

Parisian business districts

The district of La Défense, a European business center

Located in the Hauts-de-Seine, just 6 km from the center of Paris, the district of La Défense spreads over nearly 160 hectares and is the main symbol of Parisian and European business.

With 3,600 companies, 3 million m2 of office space, nearly 180,000 employees and 250,000 m2 of commercial space, it is visited by around 350,000 people each day and is the largest business district in Europe.

This means it attracts the biggest French and international names with at least 15 of the world's 50 top companies based here. Leaders in the industrial, banking, financial, digital, insurance and consulting sectors have established their decision-making centers in La Défense.

Among these, notable names include Areva, Total, GDF-SUEZ, Societe Generale, and Saint-Gobain.

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From historic towers to contemporary projects, the La Défense district is full of architectural surprises. The 44-story Areva tower impresses with the brilliant black highlights of its facade, while the impressively inclined twin towers of the Société Générale are each 158-metres in height.

The GDF-SUEZ building is an environmental masterpiece that resembles a huge glass sheet folded vertically. These are just a few of the emblematic buildings to be seen in this business district.business districts of Paris

The Central Business District: The most important office park in Paris"

The Central Business District or QCA is a natural extension of La Défense and represents the largest and most densely occupied part of the capital. The district is bordered by the Porte Maillot, Avenue de Villiers, the Louvre Pyramid, the Alma Bridge, and the Place Victor Hugo.

It is characterized by its Haussmann buildings which are home to 420,000 jobs. The QCA houses luxury, cosmetic, banking, finance, and new technology companies as well as service-sector SMEs and numerous communication and financial consulting firms. The most prolific businesses in the district, however, are law firms.

The QCA is divided into several sectors :

  • The Paris Bourse Business District is a vital hub: A stronghold of innovation and digital technology

 Located in the 2nd arrondissement in the very heart of Paris, this area was historically the capital's financial center. Nestled between the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre Museum, the Bourse district occupies a prime location and is one of the hotspots of Parisian life.

The Paris Stock Exchange was originally housed in the Palais Brongniart. The Bourse, of course, is still in the district but the Palais Brongniart is now a center for congresses, seminars, conferences, and special events.

This arrondissement also has its "Silicon Sentier". This association of innovative companies embodies the modern digital identity of Paris and has seduced social network giants like Facebook and Twitter into opening offices there.

Here, are also found the flagship offices of new technologies such as the French start-up carpool brand BlaBlaCar. A brand, which today has an estimated worth of more than 1 billion euros.

  • The Madeleine, Opéra, and Etoile districts: A true Parisian image

The 8th arrondissement of Paris contains more than 33,000 businesses covering various sectors (commerce, service industries, real estate, banks, etc.) and represents more than 3 million m² of office space.

The Madeleine lies in the heart of the 8th arrondissement and is close to the Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries Park. It now houses more than 125,000 active businesses.

The Opéra district lies in the 9th arrondissement between the Louvre and the Palais Garnier and is home to numerous head offices that cover sectors such as distribution, energy, journalism, food industries, and the Internet, etc.

Also here are financial and insurance names such as the COVEA Group, prestigious law firms like DLA Piper (the first business lawyers in the 9th district) and airlines. The architecture in this district is a pleasing blend of contemporary spaces and beautiful Haussmannian buildings.

It is here that the upmarket Galeries Lafayette department store and its group headquarters are located as well as the historic Edouard VII building, the most prestigious commercial address in the heart of Paris.

Between the Champs-Élysées roundabout and the Avenue Georges V, is the Etoile district of the 16th arrondissement. Also called the "Golden Triangle", this area benefits from its central location, prestigious surroundings and its wide range of upmarket services. Many companies in the luxury sector have established their offices here.

You could choose to set up a business at a select address in this neighborhood or, alternatively, rent a high-end office or meeting room as needed. This is the ideal area to impress clients by playing the international 'French Touch' card.

The Saint-Denis Pleyel business district, one of the upcoming sectors of Greater Paris

This relatively new area currently has office space that covers approximately 200,000 m². This is set to grow even further, with an additional 500,000 m² of space expected to be built in the coming years.

The area is located between the districts of Saint-Ouen and Saint-Denis and is already home to many corporate headquarters. The planned construction of the Pleyel Station, due to open in 2023, will be of great benefit to the district.

Live in one of these business districts to be near your Paris office

La Défense, located behind the Arc de Triomphe and between Courbevoie and Puteaux is an area extremely well served by public transport links (Metro, RER, Tram, Transilien) that provide easy connections to all of the capital's strategic points.

It is home to 40,000 people and boasts many facilities that make it a truly "smart city" where life and work are good.

Recently constructed areas, especially Groues, Jardins de l'Arche, and Croissant have a much higher surface code than in Paris itself, with buildings of a construction quality that is higher than many luxury Parisian buildings.

The local shops and amenities of Quatre Temps are more than sufficient to meet the needs of its residents.La Défense Business districtCentral West Paris, which covers the 1st, 2nd, 8th, 9th, 16th and 17th arrondissements, is also highly recommended as a residential area by many executives and managerial staff who work in the QCA.

These are districts where life is good, with green spaces, shops, local services and a wide choice of eating places. They are also districts well served by public transport which means over half of the business people living here can be at their office in less than 20 minutes.

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