Barings acquires site for first student accommodation in Italy

Barings has acquired a plot of land for the development of its first purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) scheme in Italy, completing on a brownfield site in Rome, on behalf of its second European real estate value-added fund (BREEVA II).

Purchased through an Italian real estate fund managed by Savills IM SGR, Barings has acquired the 25,000-square-meter (269,100-square-foot) site from an Italian company that is owned by BNL BNP Paribas.

The disused site in the east of the city center has planning permission for the development of a new PBSA scheme of 8,000 square meters (86,000 square feet), consisting of 270 studio rooms and amenity spaces including tennis and padel courts. Barings will target LEED Gold accreditation while minimizing carbon emissions over the lifecycle of the project. With the demolition of the site’s existing unused buildings already under way and a specialist student housing operator set to be appointed in the coming months, the development