“From childhood we saw our parents working in the property market.”
The Garotta family venture is now four generations old. César, a marine carpenter, brought his family to live in Monaco; then his son Albert started a prefabricated chalet business, Chalets Garotta, in Nice in 1942; and finally Max Garotta founded the property development company Riviera Réalisation. A member of the national Fédération des Promoteurs Immobiliers since 1986, Riviera Réalisation works cohesively with local planning and to date has built more than 120 residential developments on the Côte d’Azur and in the Var. A truly regional business that today is run jointly by Max’s sons, Mathieu and Laurent. “From childhood we saw our parents working in the property market. It interested us but there was never any question of them pressurising us,” says Mathieu. His brother Laurent studied marketing and international business then began his career in Silicon Valley before joining Riviera Réalisation in 2007. Mathieu studied finance and strategy then worked for Deloitte before returning to the family in 2012. “We were very glad not to have to start from scratch but it was a huge challenge as regards our family, our employees, our partners and the clients who put their trust in us.” Laurent and Mathieu are adamant about preserving the fundamental values that have made Riviera Réalisation what it is: “High-quality work, team spirit, respect for the individual, and innovation too,” specifies Mathieu, reminding us that his father was among the first property developers to have a website, back in 2000. To these foundations the fourth generation of Garottas has added transparency, which among other things translates as giving every client online access to their most pertinent documents and real-time photographic monitoring of work. And in Riviera Realisation agencies you can even “visit” properties using virtual reality headsets! The company builds commercial and services properties as well as quality homes from Menton to Montpellier via Saint-Tropez and Corsica; it now employs 30-odd people.
Par Eve Chatelet
Côteweb 2021, création de site Internet sur Nice