The City of Milan is planning to convert an abandoned industrial area into a new first-class financial district which will compete with Paris' La Défense or London's Carary Wharf, according to Carlo Masseroli, the municipality's alderman for Urban Development.

The City of Milan is planning to convert an abandoned industrial area into a new first-class financial district which will compete with Paris' La Défense or London's Carary Wharf, according to Carlo Masseroli, the municipality's alderman for Urban Development.

Located on the north-western edge of the city, the Stephenson site of Milan covers an area of roughly 450,000 m2 which, according to a plan presented by Masseroli, will be redeveloped to house up to 50 new office towers. 'An investment in public infrastructure will be necessary because the place is nearly unreachable. Only with this commitment from the municipality can we create a successful public-private partnership to invest in the area,' Masseroli said, indicating that the investment figure on the part of the city could be around EUR 300 mln.

The total development cost for the business district, located adjacent to the Expo 2015 site, is forecast to amount to roughly EUR 6 bn. The project is expected to create up to 66,000 new jobs and to involve up to 35,000 operators for its construction.

'The creation of a new office district needs strong public leadership because the private parties left alone would intervene without a full-vision strategy,' Masseroli was reported as saying last week during a visit to the site.

The first development project is already underway with the construction of the four-star BH4 Boscolo Hotel carried out by local company Luini. The 20-storey building will feature over 300 hotel rooms on completion planned for next spring.