Nine groups for the redevelopment of the Milan Fair City Complex
Nine groups have submitted their applications representing a total of 55 companies that comprise developers, promoters, construction companies, and global service companies. Added to this there are architectural practices, representing the professionalism of numerous countries, including Italy, Great Britain, Holland, the US, Japan and France.
Almost all the groups are the result of international cooperation between Italian and foreign companies. One group consists of only foreign companies. A total of 8 countries are represented: Italy, Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Germany and the United States. The financial partners come from three countries: Italy, Holland and the United States.
The names of the applicants will not be disclosed to safeguard the privacy of those who will not be selected by the Commission.
Today, at 2.00 pm, Sviluppo Sistema Fiera, assisted by Lazard & Co as advisors and in the presence of representatives from the Lombardy Regional Government and the Municipality of Milan, opened the envelopes containing the applications for the international call for tenders to redevelop the Milan Fair City Complex: 255,000 square meters of the 440,000 square meters currently occupied by the Fair.
“We are proud to note that leading real estate development companies, in Italy and worldwide, associated with the topmost architectural practices, have demonstrated an interest in taking part in the project to redevelop the City Complex –commented Luigi Roth, chairman and CEO of Sviluppo Sistema Fiera, an engineering and contracting company for large-scale projects that was set up to oversee the transformation of Milan’s entire exhibition system, and chairman and CEO of Fondazione Fiera Milano – This extensive and high-caliber participation, offers a strong guarantee because of the professionalism and solid standing of the companies that we will be invited to tender. We can rest assured that the projects and bids submitted after the tender will allow the city of Milan to benefit from the finest offers from professionals and companies”.
The Tender Committee, which will begin examining the credentials of the candidates on 2 July, consists of the Board of Directors of Sviluppo Sistema Fiera: Luigi Roth, Claudio Artusi, Rodrigo Rodriquez, Marcello Botta, Maurizio Filotto, Giorgio Montingelli.
By 30 September 2003, Sviluppo Sistema Fiera will examine the requests, select the candidates and invite them to tender. The deadline for the submission of tenders is 31 March 2004 and by 31 July 2004 the final award will be made. This busy schedule will lead, in only 16 months, to the selection of the candidate that will regenerate all of north-west Milan.
This is an all-new fact in the area of traditional urban redevelopment projects for the country, especially in terms of the methodology being used for the entire process.
Fondazione Fiera Milano and Sviluppo Sistema Fiera, have decided: - not to sell to the ‘best bidder’, but to call a tender to select the purchaser and project on the basis of three elements: project quality, work schedule and price bid; - to share the entire procedure with the Regional and Municipal authorities; - to establish specific requirements that will ensure that the redevelopment of the area fully meets the needs of the citizens and of a metropolis that is becoming more international.
July 1st marks a fundamental step in the transformation of the area surrounding the present-day Milan Fair City Complex – launched on 15 January with the Supervisory Committee – that will downsize its presence in the city by promoting a large-scale urban redevelopment project for Milan and Lombardy.
The Milan Fair currently occupies a surface area of 440,000 square meters; of these, 185,000 square meters will become the so-called City Complex, while the remaining 255,000 will be redeveloped through an international call for tenders. Fifty percent of this area must become a city park and public spaces. The City Complex and the out-of-town Complex, currently under construction in Rho-Pero, will give the country one of the vastest exhibition complexes in the world. The area to be transformed extends beyond the perimeter of the exhibition grounds and is an opportunity to redevelop adjacent public areas, the Via Gattamelata school campus and to upgrade infrastructures to improve traffic conditions in the area.
The City Complex will remain the property of Fondazione Fiera Milano and will host business-to-consumer events, while the out-of-town complex will be used for exhibitions that require large spaces.