Inpgi Hines fund to invest EUR 80m in Rome project

US real estate development firm Hines has unveiled plans to invest around EUR 80 mln over the next three years in a new development project in Rome.

The investment in Città del Sole will be made on behalf of the Inpgi Hines fund, a new partnership between the Italian private pension fund for journalists, Inpgi and Hines' Italian asset management arm, Hines Italia.

The fund, which is 100%-owned by Ingpi, was launched in December 2009 alongside its first investment, the acquisition of the residential section of the Porta Nuova development project in Milan.

With the new operation, the fund will reach a size of over EUR 120 mln to be invested entirely in these two development sites in Rome and Milan. Città del Sole is a large city-centre regeneration project in the vicinity of the Tiburtina railway station of Rome. The project envisages the development and redevelopment of 12,000 m² of space to offer new services and create a new residential and commercial complex on the site, which formerly housed a warehouse of Atac, Rome's public transport company. The scheme is expected to be completed by 2012.

Inpgi Hines Fund will be the investor in the project while Parsitalia Real Estate will be the developer.

According to Manfredi Catella, head of Hines in Italy, the company plans to re-open the fund for new investment in the near future.