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Old furnaces and shops: the new urban mall Aura with 60 shops has opened
19 April, Corriere della Sera
Sixty shops, fifteen between bars and restaurants, a big Virgin gym, a Mondadori bookstore, a Pam hypermarket and a Euronics store. Aura shopping mall has just opened, the biggest “urban” shopping centre of the capital (approximately 21 thousand Sq m), located between Via di Valle Aurelia e Via Baldo degli Ubaldi, 800 metres from the Vatican. Besides the debate over the purpose of the property, which many would have preferred having a more cultural function, there is some disappointment regarding the internal garage which starts charging already from the first minutes.
The shopping centre develops over three levels and it’s the result of the collaboration between the Brescia-based Cds Holdings, the group Pam-Panorama and Orion Capital. Larry Smith Italia – recently acquired by Savills – has been appointed for its management. Whereas the area requalification project – lasted seven years – includes also the implementation of a new big concave-shaped square beside the church of San Giuseppe Cottolengo. The new shopping centre integrates into its structure the Veschi furnace through an operation of industrial archaeology, recovering the facility where for decades the bricks used for constructing in Rome were produced.
Source: Corriere della Sera
Translator: Cristina Ambrosi