Tag: real estate development

The new Milan skyline? It will reduce distances

06 August, Forbes Italia

“You need to plunge into Milan to understand the city, instead of looking at it as a piece of art”, Guido Piovene wrote his Travels in Italy in the Fifties. We wonder what the journalist and writer would think of the city as it is now, with its gardens and buildings which have preserved their elegance, although they’re increasingly surrounded by high-rise buildings.

The time of the economic boom described in the book is long gone, and so are “Milano da bere” and “Tangentopoli”, for the city that has been able of regaining its role as the main driver of the country. Milan keeps growing thanks to the real estate activities without renouncing to the Italian style, co-existing with artistic masterpieces that are appreciated worldwide. The breakthrough was the Expo in 2015, which proved to be a success despite all the debates. As Scenari Immobiliari stressed, that year saw real estate investments in Milan for 3.4 billion euro against the 894 million recorded in 2014. Most of the projects were already in the pipeline, but they didn’t stop. In 2017 the city registered the record of 4.3 billion, half of the investments in Italy. The next challenge concerns the suburbs, as Mayor Giuseppe Sala told Forbes.

How has the city changed after all the recent real estate developments?

Today, we can see the results of 20 of work that has reshaped the city and developed it vertically. Entire neighbourhoods have been redesigned and have become the symbols of the city. Starting from Piazza Gae Aulenti, the beating heart of Porta Nuova. We did not only build, but we also did it well. We’ve built innovative skyscrapers that saw competing internationally-known architects: Cesar Pelli for the Unicredit tower, Paolo Caputo for the Diamond, Stefano Boeri for the magnificent Vertical Forest.

The same happened with CityLife.

There, design achieved the excellence with the buildings by Isozaki, Liebeskind and Hadid. The first two are completed, while the third is under construction. They represent the Milan of the new millennium, growing towards the sky like London, Dubai, New York and the far-east metropolis. Milan is not staying behind.

What are the political guidelines?

We’re working on this transformation process keeping in mind two key aspects: suburbs and sharing. The development of the city must be systematic and include the new as well the old neighbourhoods. We don’t want a city going at two different speeds, but rather a change that embraces the whole city. A project must be presented and discussed with the community in order to be successful.  This is the way to get the public consent and implement the plan in short times.

Architecture is not only technique but also a social project. How do these two factors combine in the development of Milan?

Reshaping a city, turning abandoned areas into new neighbourhoods, regenerating old areas to improve the quality of life is a significant change for the community. Milan, like other metropolises, experiences the coexistence of new areas and neighbourhoods left abandoned for years, from an urban and social point of view. We’re trying to fix it with the new Territorial Zoning Plan, whose operational timeframe stretches till 2030. We’ll have met the objective if in ten years the city will have fewer differences between centre and suburbs, with a good quality of life in all the areas. Then we can say to have given to Milan what the city deserves, namely its rise in the international context and the regeneration of the problematic areas.

How will Milan be like in the medium-term?

If we look at the city as a whole, it will be greener and better connected, thanks to the new metro line which is under construction as well as other infrastructures. There will be no discontinuity concerning urban planning, as the gap between suburban areas and city centre will be filled. The requalification of the seven former train stations will have a crucial role in this, as they concern an area of over 1.25 million Sq m. We’ll start the works very soon. We’ll recover the areas of Farini, Romana, San Cristoforo, Rogoredo, Greco-Breda, Porta Genova and Lambrate. 65% of the surface will be dedicated to green spaces and 35% to social housing. This is our biggest project, but it’s not the only one. With its implementation, Milan will change radically, with the addition of other interventions to achieve our vision of a city developing in all its parts.

Source: Forbes Italia

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Green light to the Scandurra towers in Cascina Merlata

20 February, Il Sole 24 Ore

The residential intervention on the R2 and R3 lots in Cascina Merlata (Milano) named UpTown is going forward. As communicated by the architect studio Scandurra, last week it was obtained the approval concerning three buildings of the seven planned. More in detail, the construction permit concerns two towers and a building in the R2. The whole project UpTown is composed of four towers and three aligned buildings for a total of 460 apartments of free construction. The development of Cascina Merlata is managed by Euromilano that, through a public tender, chose the project of the team composed of Scandurra Studio, Recchi Engineering, Zanetti Design Architettura, Ai Group and Federico Oliva Associati.

“After having won the bid, the client assigned us the definitive project as well as the management of the works”, said Emanuela Recchi, from the engineering company Recchi, while presenting the project at the conference organized by Oice taking place in Rome. The project has been carried out according to the building information modelling and it’s currently being implemented by the cooperative company Cmb. At the end of September, the first stone of the UpTown project was laid down. According to Emanuela Recchi, 80% of the apartments have already been sold.

Source: Il Sole 24 Ore

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Porta Vittoria, agreement between York Capital and Banco Bpm

22 February, Milano Finanza

Even before the expiry for the exclusive right (end of February) and without extending the negotiations any further, the fund York and Banco Bpm has found a definitive agreement for the transfer of credits (over 220 million) of the bank guided by Giuseppe Castagna inherited by the old entity Banco Popolare Spa, which was partner of the real estate developer Danilo Coppola bankrupted with a 400 million debt. Tomorrow the bank will officially disclose the agreement with the fund which has obtained the credits of Colombo Costruzioni (26 million). Despite the bank has been put at the bottom of the list of the creditors for unsecured credits due to a decision of the Court of Milan (Banco Bpm appealed such a decision), the agreement implies that Banco will receive up to 70% of its credits towards Porta Vittoria, thus approximately 150 million, without being involved in potential future litigations. At this stage, York has only left to find an agreement with Ipi of the Segre family (once owned by Coppola himself) that has an exposure with the bankrupted real estate company for a value of about one hundred million.

Once the operation with Banco Bpm will be formally defined (a refund of their unsecured credits will be granted also to the other creditors), it’s likely that Banco Bpm will withdraw its petition against the decision of the judge Simonetti.

In this way, it will be possible to start the real estate development phase concerning a surface of 142 thousand Sq m. It will be used to build new residential and commercial properties in the centre of Milan. Concerning the residential part, the works are already completed. Hence, York will focus on the development of the remaining area which should see the construction of a hotel (at this purpose, a first proposal has been made to the Spanish hotel chain Nh Hotels), a sports centre and an area dedicated to shopping. The investments will amount to other 60 million altogether, including the investments to complete the construction site, expenses and charges. It’s not to be excluded that in the future the fund that has taken over the credits of Porta Vittoria will find new partners, but nothing certain so far. We must say though that this implementation phase will require several months for its completion. Finally, we must remind that the fund Algebris of Davide Serra submitted at the begging of the year a proposal of agreement with creditors to the Court of Milan. Considering this agreement between York and Banco Bpm, such an option seems to be no longer applicable.

Source: Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Elkann in real estate with Imbert

15 February, Milano Finanza

John Elkann doubles his interests in luxury real estate after having obtained (through Exor) the London-based Almacantar (the leading company of the London real estate), this time he aims directly at Italy. In fact, the Fca president has recently become a partner (with the 10.3%) of the Merope Asset Management, a Milan-based company specialised in prime properties, with a focus on Milan. Merope is guided by Pietro Croce, the Genoa-born CEO and main shareholder owning about 70% of the capital.

Elkann is not only the only one interested in the Merope capital. Besides the Fca and Exor president, also Federico Imbert has become a shareholder. With a long history in the Milan investment banking sector (after a long experience with Jp Morgan), Imbert is now the number one of Credit Suisse in Italy. He holds the 10.3% of Merope (like Elkann), while the remaining 10.3% is held by a group of partners gathered by Mediobanca. According to its website, Merope has about 25 national and international investors.

More in detail, Merope structures its business through club deals, hence using a strategy typical of private equity investments. In such a structure, investors have to underwrite notes of special purpose vehicles for each investment. Merope commits to underwrite at least 10% of the capital of each special purpose company created.

Currently in the Merope portfolio there four main investments: one is a building at number 5 of the exclusive Via della Spiga in Milan (one of the most famous streets of the fashion district), a second is a building between the very central Via Torino and Via della Lupetta always in Milan, while the third (the only one outside Italy) is a renovation project for a complex of four buildings in Prague. Finally, the portfolio also includes a mandate for the historical Villa Spinola, on the Albaro hill in Genoa, one of the most prestigious areas in the city. The objective is renovating the building while preserving its historical value.

Source: Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Banca d’Italia: optimism for construction

16 October, Monitor Immobiliare

According to the survey about the inflation and growth outlook by Banca d’Italia, the situation for the construction sector, which is slowly recovering, can be considered less negative.

From the figures, it emerges that in September 2017 the general economic situation has slightly improved for Italian companies with more than 50 employees. For the next three months, there are signals of optimism concerning the rise of demand.

It’s easy to spot the difference between the construction companies that forecast a rise of the nominal expenses for investments in 2017 and those companies that expect a reduction of them instead: 13.2% against the 6.4% of the previous report.

Still a negative balance for those companies intending to increase their staff in the next three months and those who want to reduce it. However, the gap is now -3.7% compared to the previous -7% at the beginning of the year. Good signals come from the companies operating in the residential sector, despite the price trend still being negative (-0.4% on yearly basis).

For the third quarter of 2017, construction confirms a positive trend of demand, reaching 16.3% against the previous 5.3%. The companies active in the non-residential sectors have reported positive results, together with the recovery of the construction companies operating in the residential segment.

 

Source: Monitor Immobiliare (by A.T.)

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Not many properties are purchased from the developer

14 October, Milano Finanza

Newly built properties have represented in 2017 only 24% of the sales. The figures come from the Notaries Public based on the information received by 92% of its registered members. In the first semester, the number of sales of properties has been 401,432, of which 300,929 have been residential properties, besides garages, cellars, and parking spaces. Only 61,892 properties were bought from the developer. “More than half of the sales, equal to 56.48% (163,155 transactions), involved the request of the “first house benefit” with a sharp difference between the purchase from privates and the purchase from companies (only 6.9%), with a clear crisis of new or renovated properties”, warn the notaries. The North registered over than 56% of the properties sold, 17.74% in the Centre, 18.15% in the South, and 7.6% in the islands. In Friuli Venezia Giulia, the sales have grown by 10.7%, in Valle d’Aosta +6.3%, Trentino Alto Adige +4.4%. In the Centre, Umbria registered +7.9%, in countertrend. Lombardy too registered a positive trend (+2.6%), and it’s the region with the most real estate transactions (82,561). “56.48% of the sales of residential properties has happened with the “first house benefit”, highlighted the Notaries Public.

 

Source: Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Scali Fs, agreement signed: green, low-rent accommodations and Circle Line

 

Over 675 thousand Sq m of green areas, equal to 65% of the whole area, 97 million euro for investments in the Circle Line, at least 32% of the total volumetric capacity destined to non-residential functions and at least 30% for council estates and low-rent accommodations, as well as redistribution of the volumetric capacity towards bigger areas. These are the key ideas of the agreement signed on Thursday at the Farini station by the Milan City Council, the Region of Lombardy and Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane (Italian Railways) with Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, FS Sistemi Urbani and Savills Investment Management Sgr (owner of part of the land included in the Farini station) for the redevelopment of the 7 decommissioned railway stations, that together occupy a surface of 1,250 Sq m, 200 thousand of which will maintain their original railway function. This is the biggest urban redevelopment plan concerning Milan in the next 20 years, one of the biggest territorial valorisation projects in Italy and Europe. The agreement addresses the requests emerged last November by the Municipal Committee as well as the petitions raised throughout the long process of public participation and debate which have seen the involvement of over 60 thousand people.

Green and public space

The agreement plans to destine at least 65% of the total surface of the area, equal to over 675 thousand Sq m, to green areas and public spaces. This is an increase of about 130 thousand Sq m compared the previous agreement hypothesis. Besides the 675 thousand Sq m, it will be implemented 200 thousand Sq m of eco-friendly railway connections along the railway tracks, including the Green Railways project on the southern belt of the city and the cycle and pedestrian lane along the platform in direction of Chiaravalle. All the stations will need to have at least 50% of green areas. Above all, it will be implemented a big park of an extension of 300 thousand Sq m at the Farini station, which will become in this way the third largest in the city, together with Montestella Park, after Lambro and Sempione, as well as a 90 thousand Sq m park in Porta Romana and a naturalistic oasis of 140 thousand Sq m (equal to 100% of the total surface of the station) in San Cristoforo.

Circle Line

The implementation of the Circle Line is a key element for the sustainable development of the metropolitan area. In the next decade, Ferrovie Dello Stato will invest about 1 billion euro in the railway system of Milan. Connected to the agreement are investments for 97 million euro for the construction and modernisation of the stations along the Circle Line. Besides the 50 million generated by the capital gain from the divestiture of the areas, in fact, 22 million will fund the new stations Tibaldi and Romana, 5 million will integrate the investments to improve the accessibility of the Greco-Pirelli station, 20 million will go to the new Dergano station (upon assessment of the feasibility), or in alternative to another intervention on the line. The 50 million, guaranteed by Ferrovie Dello Stato even in the case the capital gain would be lower than expected, will permit funding the feasibility analysis for the development of the northern belt of the Circle Line (which will also confirm the exact location of the new stations), building the new Stephenson station and implementing the necessary adjustments for the San Cristoforo, Greco-Pirelli and Romolo stations. The 50% of the capital gain that can be obtained, besides the already mentioned 50 million, will fund further interventions on the railway system of Milan.

Charges and extra charges

214 million euro will be invested in the urbanisation of the areas. Besides the 133 million euro of urbanisation charges that, according to the estimates, the operators will have to pay to the Administration, there are also extra charges equal to 81 million (80 million from Ferrovie Dello Stato and 1 million from Savills Investment Managment Sgr), parted in 46 million for the transformation of Farini, 30 million for Romana and 5 million for Genova, destined to the accessibility and reconnection works of the areas.

The seven train stations

The areas of the seven decommissioned train stations – Farini (618.733 Sq m), Greco (73.526 Sq m), Lambrate (70.187 Sq m), Porta Romana (216.614 Sq m), Rogoredo (21.132 Sq m), Porta Genova (89.137 Sq m) e San Cristoforo (158.276 Sq m) – are included in the properties transferred to Ferrovie Dello Stato (as per  the law n. 210 dated 17th May 1985), and they are part of the assets of which Ferrovie Dello Stato have full availability as per the civil rule regulating private property. In these areas are included both decommissioned areas and areas still functional for the railway service. The company  FS Sistemi Urbani, 100% subsidiary of Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane, has the duty to promote the areas owned by the group that are not functional to the transportation activity throughout Italy. Once essential elements for the economic, social and infrastructural development of this city, today these areas represents discontinuity for its development, being in a state of degradation and abandonment. Starting from 2015, the Milan City Council, Ferrovie Dello Stato and the Region of Lombardy had started defining the objectives and the processes for the urban transformation of the old stations in order to improve the railway system of Milan. The regeneration of the stations will reconnect the urban empty spaces between the city centre and suburbs, creating new neighbourhoods with a good balance of functionality and quality of life, plus a diffused green infrastructure and a capillary and sustainable mobility system.