Italian real estate fund manager COIMA SGR has won its bid to lead the €400m redevelopment of the historic Guido Reni barracks in Rome.
The former military site will be redeveloped into a mixed-use urban district with funding from investors including Italian pension funds and Abu Dhabi real estate developer Eagle Hills.
CPD Real Asset SGR, the real estate and infrastructure asset management arm of Italy’s state-owned development bank CDP Group, announced that Coima had won the competitive tender after a total of six bidders were shortlisted to three.
The announcement comes two weeks after Coima and its CEO Manfredi Catella had corruption charges related to an urban planning investigation in Milan dismissed by the Italian Supreme Court.
The redevelopment in Rome will be funded via a newly created fund to be managed by Coima, with CDP Real Asset retaining participation via its Fondo Investimenti per la Valorizzazione, or Investment Fund for Enhancement.
Coima is participating in the funding through its ESG City Impact Fund, the investors in which include Italian pension funds Cassa Forense, ENPAM, Inarcassa, Cassa dei Commercialisti, Intesa Sanpaolo, Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione Padova e Rovigo, Fondo Pensione Monte dei Paschi di Siena, and Fideuram Vita.
The five-hectare site comprises 23 former industrial buildings and is situated in the Flaminio district of Rome. The redevelopment plans to integrate private residential, purpose-built student housing, hospitality, high-street retail and community-anchored public spaces. As part of the masterplan, a portion of the site will be allocated to the Municipality of Rome for the creation of an 18,000sqm science museum.
Coima has entered into a partnership with Eagle Hills, the real estate development and investment company led by Mohamed Alabbar, chairman and founder of Emaar. It follows a partnership between Coima and Eagle Hills earlier this year to invest €200m to restore the Grand Hôtel des Bains in Venice.
Manfredi Catella, CEO of COIMA SGR, said: “Neighbourhood-scale development is part of the legacy of Coima. Starting this chapter in Rome in partnership with CDP Real Asset SGR, representing the Italian government, is a huge honour that we take with a high degree of responsibility, particularly given the extraordinary heritage of this city and the relevance of the Flaminio area.
“By scaling up our partnership with Eagle Hills we are bringing together world class experience in city making, working in collaboration with all relevant national and city stakeholders.”
