Corio doubles its retail space in Italy

Corio acquired the main part of one of the largest shopping centres under construction at the moment in Italy. The shopping centre is located in Marcianise, about 20 kilometres north of Naples adjacent to the autostrada A1 (the Naples â€" Rome â€" Milan motorway) within the European hub Interporto Sud Europa. The net initial yield is expected to exceed the yield of Corio’s existing Italian portfolio.

The shopping centre at Marcianise, which will be completed and opened in the autumn of 2004, consists of four integrated parts with a total gross lettable area (GLA) of 93,800 m² and 7,000 open-air parking spaces. This shopping centre will become the largest in Corio’s Italian portfolio, as well as in GLA owned by Corio as in total GLA. Corio acquired 100% of the main mall (GLA of 48,500 m²) and six large retail units (GLA of 20,000 m²) located next to the main mall. The other parts are a hypermarket (GLA of 19,300 m²), which will be owned and occupied by Carrefour, and a multi screen cinema (6,000 m² and 2,500 seats).

The main mall consists of 11 mid-sized units (total GLA of 20,500 m²) and 190 smaller units (total GLA of 22,800 m²) and a food court (5,200 m²). Presently, about 70% of the mid-sized units have already been let to international chains like ZARA, Benetton and Media World and approximately 20,000 m² of the smaller units are under negotiation. Of the six large retail units, four are already let to Longoni, Emmelunga, Scarpe & Scarpe and Brico Center, the other two are under negotiation. Given the considerable success of the pre-lettings, 18 months ahead of opening, Corio expects the shopping centre to be fully let at the opening in the autumn of 2004 and that the centre will become a dominant regional shopping centre in its very large catchment area.

The Marcianise shopping centre is located in Marcianise, about 20 kilometres north of Naples adjacent to the Autostrada A1 (the Naples â€" Rome â€" Milan motorway). The catchment area consists of 1.2 million people living within 30 minutes driving time (excluding Naples). The shopping centre will benefit from the new Interporto Sud Europa (www.ise360.com), the main logistic hub for the freight between north and south Italy.

Pictures and floorplans of this shopping centre are available on Corio´s website (www.corio-eu.com via Retail, click on the map of Italy).

Source: Corio N.V.