Guiding Lines: News

First Industrial Zone

On October 3 the Volokolamsky industrial park - the pilot project of the Moscow region government’s program on the creation of industrial zones in the Moscow region up to 2010 - opened. In total, the creation of 39 industrial districts is planned, six are currently under development.

The 298.14-hectare industrial district is located on a territory in the Volokolamsky area along the M9 Baltiya highway 80 km from the MKAD. The total investments in creating the industrial park stand at 13 billion rubles. The park is expected to be put into operation at full capacity in 2012-2015, after which the annual tax contributions of the district to the federal budget should total 1 billion rubles, and to the regional budget - 400 million rubles. The Volokolamsky project was approved in 2005. The managing company of the project, Terre di Lama, developed the concept of the layout of the territory. Terre di Lama has spent around $15 million on preparing the area for work. The district includes 23 land plots in three zones between which wooden fences have been erected to ensure sound pollution is curbed and the environment is protected. The land has been allocated under a long-term rental contract with the subsequent right for residents to buy the property after the construction of the enterprises. Currently the territory of the district is 25% filled. On 50 hectares there will be an industrial-warehouse complex belonging to Kaluri, a modular housing construction factory belonging to Vesco Group, a Chesli polygraphic paint and varnish factory, a Major car distribution center and a meatpacking plant belonging to Arkada. The companies have started designing their premises. The engineering preparation of the second phase of development of the territory measuring 250 hectares is also coming to an end.

According to consulting companies Jones Lang LaSalle and Blackwood, Volokolamsky will create 12,000 jobs. According to Nikolai Razgulyayev, the financial director of Terre di Lama, such a large workforce is not present in the area and this problem still needs to be solved.

In Brief

The FAS prosecute Moscow Bureau of Forestry (Mosleskhoz)

The Arbitration court of Moscow has started to consider a claim of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) Russia to recognize auctions for the sale of land plots in the West of the Moscow region carried out in December as void, writes Cottage.ru. In June 2008, the FAS recognized the illegal actions of Mosleskhoz, which acted as the organizer of the auctions. Mosleskhoz was accused of restricting the admission to take part in the auctions of some individuals and legal entities. On the basis of this decision, the department has submitted two claims to the Moscow arbitration court. A scandal surrounding auctions for the sale of the right to rent forest plots in the Moscow region flared this spring. 69 forest plots measuring a total of 991 hectares were put up for auction on December 18-20th 2007. The Initiator of the auctions was the Russian bureau of forestry (Rosleskhoz, and the organizer was Mosleskhoz. The starting prices were $30 per sotka at a market cost of rent at $5,000-$10,000 per sotka. Because applications were only accepted within several hours, not everyone who wanted to could participate in the tenders.

Largest office transaction in St. Petersburg

LEK construction company No. 1 has signed a rental contract with Promsvyaznedvizhimost on 6,100 sq.m of office space in the Arena Hall business center in St. Petersburg. The total area of the class B complex is more than 28,000 sq.m. The developer of the project is, and the marketing agent is Jones Lang LaSalle. The largest transaction in the office real estate market of St. Petersburg this year was carried out in a record-breaking time of within a month. The official opening of the Arena Hall business center is planned for the fourth quarter of 2008.

4 trillion rubles invested in transport network

By 2015 more than 4 trillion rubles will be invested by the Moscow Region in the development of the transport network of Moscow. This figure was announced at a session of the board of the Ministry of Transport, Rossiiskaya Gazeta informs. The road capacities in the Moscow region are practically depleted. This may lead to a failure in the life of a large megacity and cause a real transport collapse in the center of Russia, deputy prime minister Sergey Ivanov has stated. According to him, the average speed of motor transport in Moscow is 27 km/h. On the underground it is 41.3 km/h, and by rail it is 40 km/h. There are 10 billion users of public transport per annum. The transport program needs to be realized using a single town-planning design for Moscow and the Moscow region, Ivanov considers.

Roads

Joint venture for a small ring

Russian Railways (RZhD) and the government of Moscow have signed an agreement on the realization of a project for the reconstruction and development of a small ring of the Moscow railway, Interfax has informed. For its realization RZhD and the government of Moscow, on an equal footing, will create joint venture Moscow Ring Railway. The project will run until 2015. By then 30 stations and 19 transport hubs should be put into operation. Up to 100 trains will run per day in conjunction with the cargo route. The trains, according to preliminary plans, will run every 10-11 minutes. The fare on the small ring will correspond to the fare of the Moscow metro under the condition of non-profit transportation.

Without problems

Everything’s fine

Despite the financial crisis, investment-industrial group Evrasia is not going to freeze its projects worth $5 billion. Moreover, the company plans to enter into new projects, having increased its investment portfolio up to $10 billion. "There is no crisis in the real estate market - there is liquidity crisis, but we do not have occasion to speak about a recession and the cancellation of projects," said general director of Evrasia of Igor Kononko on Cottage.ru. According to him, in 2009, the group plans to invest almost $1 billion in new development projects. In completing premises already under construction the company will invest $5 billion in 2008-2010, half of which will be “extra funds”. According to the calculations of the group, the value of its development assets by 2010 will increase to $10 billion.

Forum Properties is starting the development of a territory on Ulitsa Durova where the famous Ugolok Durova is located. For the Durov Theatre the company will construct Khram Detstva (a cultural-leisure center), a hotel and an arena with a stables, informs Interfax. Chairman of the board of directors of the company Vladimir Zubrilin says that the total area of the project will be 32,000 sq.m, of which almost half will be part of the commercial component: apartments, class A offices and retail space.

KR Properties will construct a new multipurpose office and shopping complex with a 3-star hotel at 39 Prospekt Vernadskogo. Investments in the project will total more than $400 million. Two buildings will be constructed, offices and shopping areas will be in one, and the hotel will be in the other (16,000 sq.m, 270 rooms). The area of the offices will be 65,000 sq.m, and the shopping area 20,000 sq.m. The total area of the complex will be approximately 158,000 sq.m. Construction of the complex is planned to start at the end of 2010.

Owner of Mos City Group Paul Fuks plans to invest $200 million in the construction of a multipurpose shopping complex in the Moscow suburbs. The plot is located 500 m from the MKAD on Gorkovskoye shosse, and was bought by English fund LRP, informs Cottage.ru. The complex will consist of four buildings with a total area of 50,000 sq.m. The project will be realized within 1.5 years. On a 5-hectare site a shopping center will be built (15,000 sq.m has already been constructed) and the construction of 10 000 sq.m more is also coming to an end. Fuks has stated that the development of multipurpose complexes in the nearest Moscow suburbs is of potential interest to him.

Reaction to crisis

Chronicle of a diving market

The world crisis is changing the plans and value of companies. The list of victims increases each week. Mirax Group has frozen 83 portfolios of the company for at least a year. The total area of all stopped projects is almost 10 million sq.m. Vedomosti has been informed that the following will be frozen: a project to move transmission lines in the Bibireva – Beskudnikova area; Poklonka Parkline (2.8 million sq.m over railway lines the Poklonnaya mountain region), Myakinino residential complex (865,000 sq.m); and the construction of Mirax Plaza (296,000 sq.m) in Ukraine where 11 floors have already been constructed has also been stopped. Sistema Gals also plans to sell projects with a total area of at least 30,000 sq.m. But nothing has been sold as yet.

Midland Development (part of Canadian investment company Midland Group) may freeze its program of the construction of shopping centers under the Strip Mall brand, writes Vedomosti. The company will suspend the construction of 11 multifunctional complexes (which include hotels and shopping and entertainment complexes) in Nizhny Novgorod, Ioshkar Ola, Astrakhan, Voronezh and other cities. The company needs $1.5 billion to realize all these projects

Corsten will suspend the construction of all its projects in regions. This concerns 11 multifunctional complexes that include a hotel and shopping and entertainment center, and total about 1 million sq.m. The company has borrowed $80 million with the creditors being Alpha-Bank and MDM-Bank.

Another structure of the Marta holding - Elekskor - has declared itself bankrupt. Investretailgroup, which owns 99.9% of Elekskor and 1% in the Prodmaster and Real-Master chain, has submitted its claim for bankruptcy to the Moscow Arbitration court.

Samokhval has put up 17 of its shops for sale due to financial difficulties, informs Interfax. The total value of the premises is 2.6 billion rubles. The chain has also offered for rent or sale 10 land plots.

The net profit of LSR group in the first 6 months has fallen 99% to $3 million due to the revaluation of commercial real estate. This is connected with the non-monetary revaluation of investment property totalling $159 million. The valuation of three operating office centers and four under construction were overestimated. The portfolio of the group was valuated by DTZ. According to sources, DTZ is more pessimistic about the effects of the financial crisis on the prospects of the market: rates of growth of the real estate market will fall.

Belgian company IVC Group has rejected plans to build a PVC floor-covering factory in the Yaroslavl region, informs Interfax. According to the president of IVC Group Phillip Balkan, this decision is connected with the significant change in the economic and political situation in the world. The Belgian company had intended to invest 55 million euros in construction of the first phase. Investments in starting the second phase were estimated at 45 million euros.

Plans

30 billion rubles for the development of stations

By 2015 RZhD plans to invest 30 billion rubles in the development of stations, informs Interfax. The set of measures will be directed at achieving world standards of service for passengers, maintaining the steady functioning of station complexes and the safety of passengers, and also at increasing the commercial and investment potential of railway stations. Berkley will take part in a project on the modernization and construction of Moskovsky station in Nizhny Novgorod. Berkley will be the technical customer of the project, a press release of the company has said. Its main tasks are to obtain the necessary initial data and the development of the concept of the reconstruction of railway complexes with construction of adjoining territories, to carry out market research and analysis of the economic efficiency of components of the project, to prepare offers on the renovation of structures and modernization of the equipment of regional stations with the possible maintenance of their realization. The ultimate goal of the work is to prepare an open tender for the realization of the project with the involvement of large Russian companies in an alliance with well-known foreign operators that have experience in realizing such projects. Realization of the pilot investment project assumes: the construction and modernization of Gorky-Moskovsky station, which should become a modern transport unit with a social and business centre with high-speed transport to Moscow and intermodular transportation to the Nizhny Novgorodinternational airport; renovation and modernization of three regional stations - Arzamas-1, Arzamas-2 and Sergach.

Architecture

Districts, quarters

KR Properties, the developer of two business quarters – Danilovskaya Manufaktura 1867 and Krasnaya Roza 1867, has ordered their architectural design. Harpak will develop the concept of the architectural design of Krasnaya Roza 1867. The main idea is the creation of comfortable and friendly environment within the quarter. Quarter should be buried in verdure; the flowerbeds will be filled with red roses of various shades. For Danilovskaya Manufaktura 1867, H2A architectural group will develop the concept of the Liteika event center. The building of the workshop of the Danilovskaya factory was constructed in 1898 and was ideally suited for an event center: 15-meter high ceilings, brick arches and huge windows create a professional concept-exhibition complex. The event center will have two halls (777 and 485 sq.m), and a completely separate and equipped VIP zone. Investments in the project will total about $1 million.