Shopping malls are not plagues for Italy's city centres but rather instruments able to pump life back into Italy's increasingly desolate historic areas, Fabio Bandirali, director of EuroHypo Italia and president of Italy's shopping centre organization CNCC, has said on the third day of the Expo Italia Real Estate (EIRE) fair.
Shopping malls are not plagues for Italy's city centres but rather instruments able to pump life back into Italy's increasingly desolate historic areas, Fabio Bandirali, director of EuroHypo Italia and president of Italy's shopping centre organization CNCC, has said on the third day of the Expo Italia Real Estate (EIRE) fair.
Bandirali pointed to two malls developed by Italian Coimpredil to support his contention. Coimpredil's director Franco Pisa, who presented the projects, said that Freccia Rossa mall is one of Italy's first shopping centres developed in a historic centre. The scheme, built in partnership with Sonae Sierra, is converting a former industrial space in Brescia's centre into a shopping area that, said Pisa, 'will give new life to the historic part of the city'. 'This area doesn't offer many services, there are no cinemas, the existing shops are outdated.' He said a new shopping centre, offering cinemas and high-quality retail space, will regenerate the centre while existing shops will also have to enhance the quality of their offering to the public.
Stephan Jung, head of property management at Commerz Grundbesitz, says that malls are coming back to the inner city. According to a survey by International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), Germany will have 50 new malls by 2011, but their average size will be substantially smaller that today. 'They will pass from 33,000 m2 to 26,000 m2,' he forecast. Adding that one had to be careful with the façade, a mall doesn't destroy its surroundings but can instead 'repair' a city by convincing people to come back. 'Our Le Barche mall in Mestre, near Venice, is a six-floor structure perfectly integrated with the centre', Jung said.
A new retail concept is also more and more experimented by Italian and foreign developers, says Jung. The shopping mall shouldn't only be a shopping area but should come together with other activities such as entertainment, art, leisure and sport. 'Shopping centres should be an instrument for socialising. This is why Commerz Grundbesitz is launching 'a huge exhibition with cracking arts where 150 pieces of art will be located in shopping malls'.
The concept includes developing retail areas linked or adjacent to stadiums. On Tuesday, Foruminvest announced at EIRE that the city of Genoa will have a new stadium with adjoining retail & leisure areas by 2011. 'We have to explore these new possibilities', said Marco Nutti of Foruminvest. On 27 September, ULI is organising a conference in Milan called 'Stadiums and shopping malls,' aimed at exploring new possibilities that stadiums can offer to retail.