Finnish property company Citycon Oyj has unveiled plans to develop a new shopping centre as part of a larger mixed-use project near the metro station of Myllypuro in Helsinki. The project, involving total development costs of EUR 60 mln, will consist of a mall, 255 apartments as well as an underground parking lot with 270 places.

The residential section of the scheme has been sold to investors Icecapital Housing Fund II Ky, Asuntosäätiö and Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company. Citycon said that each housing investor will be responsible for the construction and rental of its own apartments. Meanwhile, Citycon will invest roughly EUR 20 mln in the development of the mall and the parking lot. The company expects to finance the project with existing liquidity, it added.

The new shopping centre will have a gross leasable area of 7,300 m2 and will include grocery stores, restaurants and various health care services. The company said that over 60% of the premises have already been let and construction work is due to start at the beginning of March. The shopping centre will be completed in phases, with the first part opening in the early summer of 2011 and the second phase a year later.

The Myllypuro shopping centre project is in line with Citycon's growth strategy focused on 'the active development of premises in prime locations', the company said. 'Markedly improving retail and other service provision within the Myllypuro area, the new shopping centre will represent a positive development for the entire district,' said Jukka Posti, vice-president of property development at Citycon.