Italian property group Coima Sgr has announced that its Coima Opportunity Fund II has completed the purchase of the Pirelli 39 asset from the municipal authority of Milan.
The Milan-based investor and asset manager was shortlisted in March ahead of four other major groups in the public auction to develop the building known as 'Pirellino' for a total value of €194 mln.
'The sale of the Pirellino is an important development for the city, and not just from the point of view of town planning,' said Milan's Councillor for State Property Roberto Tasca. 'For the first time, the Government has held an auction for the sale of one of its properties with large-scale international investors showing interest. It is the city that benefits from this strategy, seeing completion of a town-planning project with the revival of the Pirellino and, at the same time, benefitting from increased financial resources that are reinvested in order to improve services for everyone.'
Coima Opportunity Fund II is the largest ever discretionary real estate fund dedicated to Italy, with funds raised in excess of €750 mln and an investment capacity of over €1.5 bn. The fund's investors include major national and international institutional investors, including Ivanhoe Cambridge (Cassa Depositi del Quebec), Poste Vita, Inarcassa and a major Asian sovereign fund.
Pirelli 39 is a 90-metre high development project on 26 floors. It will offer over 60,000 m2 of space across a tower and a low rise building spanning Via Melchiorre Gioia.
The asset sits within the Porta Nuova Gioia new development area of Milan, where Coima Sgr has recently completed several acquisitions encompassing 260,000 m2. In total, Coima said that it is planning to invest over €1 bn in the area, including the full redevelopment of the Pirelli 35 building which was recently bought from Deka Immobilien for €130 mln.
In the immediate vicinity, Coima has retained architectural firm Studio Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel to plan and design a 32,000-m2 project at Gioia 20, with an overall investment of more than €270 mln. The land and building rights were bought in 2017 for €79 mln and development is scheduled to start next year, with handover planned for 2022.
The complex is adjacent to Gioia 22, a skyscraper headquarters that Coima too is building with backing from the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (which designed Porta Nuova and the UniCredit offices), the tower will provide 68,000 m2 across 26 floors and is due to be completed in 2020.
The projects are part on a single masterplan for the Porta Nuova Gioia area, launched by Coima in May this year with the aim to extend the Porta Nuova district. The masterplan has been approved by the Milan city authorities and will be presented in spring 2020.
'Through more than three billion euros of investments, we have turned Porta Nuova and Porta Nuova Gioia district into one of the most advanced urban innovation laboratories on a global level,' said Manfredi Catella, Founder and CEO of Coima Sgr. 'Our objective is to develop architecture and technology to reduce environmental impact and support the creation of a broader and more inclusive community. With its social and cultural programme, Milan’s Biblioteca deli Alberi becomes a strategic, public space reconnecting the surrounding districts. The park allows an urban reconnection between all the large-scale redevelopment projects along the historic railroad corridor connecting the Central Station to Milan Innovation District.'
