COIMA has acquired two sites in Milan for €78.9m as part of a €700m urban regeneration project investment in the Porta Nuova neighbourhood.

At the 14th IPE Real Estate Global Conference & Awards – held in May this year, Manfredi Catella, the founder and CEO of Coima, detailed how the next phase of the Porta Nuova would build real estate on 200,000sqm of land in the area, along with green and public spaces.

Already, Coima had announced last year that it would develop GIOIA 22, an office tower, with funding from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Coima said today it paid the Municipality of Milan €78.9m for the plots at Melchiorre Gioia, Pirelli and Sassetti.  COIMA Opportunity Fund II (COFII) will own a 60% stake and the remaining 40% is held by a primary international institutional investor.

Coima said it will invest more than €270m to build to the two buildings by the end of 2022.

The real estate manager will develop the areas in partnership with the Municipality of Milan and the Lombardy Region.

Coima said this investment is part of a new €700m urban regeneration project in the Porta Nuova neighbourhood. The projects include developments in Via Bonnet and Via Melchiorre Gioia 22, it said.

Coima said it has also agreed a €80.6m 3-year loan facility with UniCredit to help finance the acquisition and pre-development activities.

Catella said: “The acquisition executed today with the Municipality of Milan constitutes an important step in the new development program that we have launched in Milan, entailing investments exceeding €2bn between ongoing development and expected investment in the next 24 months.

“The aim is to pursue the realisation of buildings which, thanks to their architectural quality and innovative characteristics may contribute toward consolidating Milan’s reputation as an advanced laboratory for the creation of cities of the future, and our team’s reputation as a primary investor, developer and manager of new generation products.”