FORMER FORO BOARIO AREA OF PADUA

URBAN TRANSFORMATION, REAL ESTATE AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT

SINLOC ADVISES LEROY MERLIN IN AN URBAN RENOVATION PROJECT IN PADUA

 

Since 2016 Sinloc has been an advisor to Leroy Merlin, a leading retailer specialized in home furnishings and DIY, for a major urban renovation project based on innovative forms of Public-Private Partnership. This is one of the first operations of this type to be implemented by a retail business.

In particular, in its commercial development strategy Leroy Merlin had identified Padua as a location where strengthening its presence and was seeking a suitable location for its development plans. The strategic innovation developed by Leroy Merlin with Sinloc’s support concerned two fundamental aspects:

  • Use of PPPs. Traditionally, operators of this type prefer to acquire assets or build them from scratch on areas they own in order to capitalize their investment; in this case the forms of PPP set out in Italian law were used where the asset is granted under concession: a significant innovation in this field
  • Zero soil consumption. The operation involves renovating an existing urban space with buildings subject to environmental and architectural constraints, enabling, on one hand, the recovery of an abandoned area , and on the other, the refurbishing of a prestigious historical building.

The operation was championed by Leroy Merlin, according to the proposed promoter procedure set out in the new Procurement Code pursuant to art. 183(15).

Activities performed by Sinloc involved comprehensive support both to proposal presentation phase and to public interest declaration, as well as subsequent tender procedure. In particular, Sinloc coordinated all the procedural steps, governing the process and supporting the various parties involved (technical, industrial, legal), in addition to directly preparing economic and financial documents required by regulations:

  • Economic-Financial Plan
  • Risk Matrix
  • Cost/Benefit Analysis
  • Value For Money

Furthermore, together with a legal advisor, Sinloc supported Convention bankability reviews, coherence of Economic-Financial Plan with the Convention, and checked administrative aspects related to Promoter’s requirements (in proposal phase) and Concessionaire’s requirements (in tender phase).

Upgrading project includes an investment of over € 31 million and involves almost 40,000 m2. Conservative restoration project for the constrained part includes the refurbishing of existing buildings to bring them in line with current regulations in terms of safety and fire prevention. Scheduled activities are consistent with current planning regulations and take into account entire area development and management, with commercial, recreational, entertainment, food service and hospitality businesses.

Our support has created value for the client and for the areas involved, with a tangible urban development project that, in addition to restoring a historically valuable property, entails significant urbanization works (including the construction of a connecting overpass). These works have also positive effects from an environmental perspective, improving the area’s transports, and so generating positive effects for the transport system beyond previously mentioned benefits, arising from the use of zero soil consumption.

The project opens interesting development prospects for industrial companies in the retail sector as well as in large-scale distribution, which, through qualified support such as that provided by Sinloc, could promote forms of PPP aimed at restoration of important architectural assets in their reference territories.