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(Visited 159 times, 1 visits today)

City Life opens its shopping district

23 November, Il Sole 24 Ore

A shopping centre in the middle of Milan which will attract people living in the area around City Life, as well as other people from Milan that will want to take the metro – the lilac line – to visits 100 shops and 23 restaurants.

The works at the City Life shopping district are frenetic, the shopping centre will open to the public on 30th November. The mix of commercial activities occupying 32 thousand Sq m is aligned with the new guidelines of the sector, with an increasingly prominent food part, together with entertainment – there will be a cinema of 1,200 seats in partnership with Anteo – and services such as the diagnostic clinic and a chiropractic centre.

Sonae Sierra, that coordinated its marketing and it will take care of the management, selected together with the owners only the best brands. Many brands are opening their first stores in Italy. It’s the case of Huawei, that will open its first store in Europe, designed according to an eco-sustainable model with flexible floors recharging the store thanks to the movement of the visitors. Habitat, the furniture brand, returns to Italy with a 2,500 Sq m space and a terrace. In total, 40% of the shops will be fashion stores.

The shopping centre designed by Zaha Hadid has a welcoming shape and reminds of a wood, all covered with bamboo from floor to ceiling with columns recalling trees. “When we’ll be fully operational, in three years, – communicates Sonae Sierra – we expect 7 million visits per year”. It’s estimated that the centre will create 800-1,00 new jobs. “So far – added José Maria Robles, managing directors for the Property Management division of the company – we’ve closed 95% of the negotiations for commercial spaces”.

The shopping centre is an important piece in the City Life project, that is still paying for having arrived during the crisis of the real estate, with luxury houses that have been left unsold for long periods. The project requested a total investment of about 2 billion euro and it’s spread on 366 thousand Sq m with a total of 530 apartments designed by Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind.

A good part of the customers of the shopping centre will consist of the people living in the neighbourhood and from those working in the City Life towers. The workers, once the third tower will be completed, will total about 9 thousand. At the moment, there are 2,700 people working in the Allianz tower, designed by Arata Isozaki and Andrea Maffei, while next July 3,200 Generali employees will move here. The completion of the third skyscraper is expected by 20202, signed by Daniel Libeskind.

Source: Il Sole 24 Ore

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi