Sonae Sierra, ING open Italian mall on Wednesday

Portuguese shopping centre specialist Sonae Sierra and ING Real Estate will open their new Le Terrazze shopping centre in the northern Italian harbour city of La Spezia on Wednesday.

Le Terrazze was developed through a 50/50 joint venture between Sonae Sierra and ING Real Estate and represents a total investment of EUR 150 mln. The centre has a gross lettable area of 38,600 m² of which 98% is let to tenants including Mediaworld, H&M, Tonic Fitness, Cisalfa Sport, Deichmann and Benetton. Besides a Ipercoop hypermarket covering 11,700 m2, the centre offers a food court area with 16 restaurants and bars.

Sonae Sierra’s fifth shopping centre in Italy, Le Terrazze will create 700 new jobs (direct and indirect) and marks the first phase of a wider project of urban rejuvenation in La Spezia.

Sonae Sierra says Le Terrazze is the first shopping centre in the world to achieve joint Environmental (ISO 14001) and Safety & Health (OHSAS 18001) certifications. The scheme achieved both certifications without any non-conformities detected during the certification audits.

Sonae Sierra owns a total of 50 shopping centres in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, Romania, Morocco, Algeria, Colombia and Brazil. It manages a total GLA of about 2.2 million m² with more than 8,500 tenants. The company currently has four projects under construction and six new projects in different development phases, plus two new projects for third parties.

ING Real Estate is a pan-European developer focusing on retail-based mixed-use projects. Part of ING Group, the development unit will be phased out over the next five years.