4 May 2009 11:23
Price Sensitive shopping centers

A new shopping mall opening in Catania

  • €59 million  invested
  • Occupancy rate at 100%: rental income will, therefore, be immediately at full capacity

Tomorrow May 5th, Igd Siiq S.p.A., one of the key players in the Italian retail real estate sector and listed on the Star segment of the Italian Stock Exchange, will open the “Katanè” commercial center in Gravina (Catania) where it owns a mall that covers a total of 15,000 m2, houses 70 stores and six medium-large size areas which range in size from 300 to 3,000 m2. The sale of food products is also important for the center thanks to the presence of the 8,000 m2 hypermarket owned by Ipercoop Sicilia.

Igd invested a total of €59 million in the project which was paid over time beginning with the stipulation of the preliminary contract on January 12th. To date more than 83% of the property has been paid for while the balance will be paid in July 2009.

The mall is completely rented and will immediately generate revenues equal to a 100% occupancy rate:  the last vendors will, in fact,  open within 15 days of the inauguration.

The Katanè center enjoys a strategic location and good visibility;  it faces the city’s ring road and is situated between the two most exclusive and densely inhabited cities in the Catania area: Gravina and San Giovanni Galermo. The customer basin is, therefore, very promising: the catchment area exceeds 640 thousand inhabitants (within 40 minutes). There are 1,500 parking places.

The mall in the Katanè center features a complete and vast retail mix which includes known brands like Euronics (with 3,100 m2),  Sicily’s brown market leader, and H&M, with a space of 1,130 m2 spread out over two floors, linked by an internal escalator, in addition to Piazza Italia, Conbipel, Bata and ample restaurant services.  The mall employs 350 people.

The Katané commercial center is Igd Siiq’s second opening in 2009: it comes, in fact, just a short time after the opening of the Tiburtino center in Guidonia, near Rome, which took place on April 2nd and which has provided encouraging signals in terms of the number of visitors.