Italian asset manager Coima has acquired the final piece in the Porta Nuova redevelopment puzzle in Milan, winning the public auction for the building dubbed 'Pirellino' with a €175 mln bid.
Situated at via Giovanni Battista Pirelli 39, the property was sold by the Municipality of Milan in a public process which drew interest from five major Italian and international real estate and finance operators.
According to Coima, Pirelli 39 represents the final step in the redevelopment of Porta Nuova, which in 2018 received the Mipim Award as the best urban regeneration project in the world. The building was originally designed in the 1950s by a group of Italian architects (Gandolfi, Putelli, Bazzoni, Fratino) to host the headquarters of the municipal technical offices, which remained there until 2013, and was later left unused.
Consisting of a 26-floor tower, reaching 90 metres in height, a low bridge-type structure on via Melchiorre Gioia and a three-floor underground parking garage, the complex is open and unobstructed on all four sides with surface subject to upgrades exceeding 60,000 m2.
Coima said that in line with many of its projects, the asset manager would hold an international design contest for Pirelli 39 covering not only the building but also the adjacent public areas.
The transaction is expected to be concluded by the end of the year by Coima Opportunity Fund II (COFII), the largest discretionary real estate fund of all time dedicated to Italy, whose capital raising phase was recently concluded with subscriptions totaling over €650 mln. The fund's investors include Ivanhoe Cambridge, Poste Vita, Inarcassa and an Asian sovereign fund.
Completing Porta Nuova
Coima's investment programme to transform the northeastern part of Porta Nuova, on the road heading toward Milan’s Central Station, is 'well on track', according to the firm. The programme was launched in 2015 through the acquisition of the former INPS tower at Melchiorre Gioia 22 on behalf of a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and continued in 2017 with the award of the plots of land and related rights at the corner of via Melchiorre Gioia and via Giovanni Battista Pirelli through the fund COFII.
Earlier this month, the preliminary agreement for the purchase and sale of the former Telecom headquarters at via Giovanni Battista Pirelli 35 was also signed.
Coima said its requalification plans for the area involve over 110,000 m2 of gross floor area overall, and includes more than 27,000 m2 of revamped public areas.
