Union Investment is to refurbish the Le Befane shopping centre in Rimini, Italy, for a further €10m in order to consolidate and further expand its strong market position. Completed in 2005, Le Befane is one of the largest shopping centres in the Rimini region on the Italian Adriatic coast. 129 shops, including a hypermarket, are spread over two levels. A food court and a large cinema with 12 screens on the upper floor are also part of the property, which has been part of the UniImmo: Europa open-ended real estate fund portfolio since 2017.
"Over the past two years, we have already revitalised our retail landscape in the centre and attracted 17 renowned brands to our shopping centre, including Lego, Starbucks, Signiorvino, Rituals and Victoria's Secret. In addition, some of the anchor tenants were rotated and the floor plans were updated. In particular, the current space requirements were adjusted for the brands of the Inditex Group and the existing Zara shop was expanded to around 3,400m2," said Carsten Freitag, Senior Asset Manager Retail International at Union Investment.
Among other things, the catering area will now be remodelled and expanded by 2026. In future, it will have 17 restaurants and kiosks and over 600 seats. The cinema will be reduced in size, completely redesigned and given improved audiovisual systems as well as new lounge areas and seating concepts. The arcade will also be given a new, modern look. A new area for a health service with a dental practice is also being created. The approximately 3,000 car parking spaces will also be structurally refurbished and renewed by spring 2025.
At the same time, the building management system is being modernised and adapted to current technical and sustainability-related requirements. Over the past two years, extensive investment has already been made in the entire infrastructure and this has been optimised from a sustainability perspective. For example, the air conditioning and ventilation technology has been modernised and adapted to the current state of the art, the lighting in the general area has been renewed and a shading system has been installed.
Image source - Union Investment.
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