McArthurGlen, the European developer, owner and manager of designer outlet villages, is to open its fifth designer outlet village in Italy in February 2010. La Reggia Designer Outlet near Naples, offering 26,000 m2 of retail space and 140 shops on completion of Phase II, is one of Europe’s biggest solar energy schemes in a retail development. Phase I of the EUR 120-mln designer outlet will provide 17,500 m2 of retail space, with an additional 8,500 m2 opening in the second phase.

The opening of the first phase of La Reggia brings the total designer outlet retail space that McArthurGlen has developed and continues to operate in Italy to 111,500 m2. La Reggia Designer Outlet is located 25 km from Naples, on the main A1 highway to Rome. The catchment area includes the more than five million inhabitants of the surrounding Campania region.

The architecture will reflect the Baroque style of the nearby Palace of Caserta, known in Italian as La Reggia di Caserta. La Reggia Designer Outlet has 10,000 m2 of solar panels integrated into the roof, with the panels producing 30% of the centre’s annual energy consumption.

Serravalle Designer Outlet, near Milan, which opened in 2000, was the first scheme developed by McArthurGlen in Italy. Serravalle is Europe’s biggest designer outlet village, with 180 stores. McArthurGlen’s three other designer outlet villages in Italy are Castel Romano Designer Outlet (near Rome), Barberino Designer Outlet (near Florence) and Veneto Designer Outlet (near Venice), all of which are currently being extended. Across the rest of Europe, McArthurGlen is also engaged in the second phase of Designer Outlet Berlin, the redevelopment of a scheme near Luxembourg, and new schemes in Athens and Neumuenster (near Hamburg).

Source : www.propertyeu.info, 24 November 2009