Office development planned for Ploshchad Tverskoi Zastavy

Despite promises that major office developments would be banned from Moscow’s overcrowded center, plans have surfaced in the press describing a major office project to be developed in the area surrounding Belorussky Station.

Traffic-light-free access

Office buildings with underground parking are to be erected in the adjoining streets of Ploshchad Tverskoi Zastavy by AFI Development after the company agreed to ditch its earlier plans to construct a major commercial development under the square. The company agreed to hand back to the city its semi-developed land plot in the square in exchange for the new areas, according to RBC Daily.

The square’s space is now to be used for further construction of roads, flyovers and underground parking, which are to be part of the Bolshaya Leningradka project.

The long-planned Bolshaya Leningradka is to ease traffic on the main road connecting the city center with Sheremetyevo Airport and to make the journey free of traffic lights.

Giant car park

Initially, AFI Development was going to build a giant underground shopping center with a vast car park for 1,400 cars. And the neighboring Butyrsky Val, 1-aya and 2-aya Tverskaya-Yamskaya and 1-aya and 2-aya Brestskaya streets were set to become the location for new commercial and residential developments before plans were scrapped this spring. Instead, the city is going to implement a 10-billion-rouble project itself, which will provide transport infrastructure and parking but no shopping under the square. The construction should take about two years time, according to Moscow’s development department, RBC Daily reported.

Earlier, the estimated cost for the revamp of Ploshchad Tverskoi Zastavy was 22 billion rubles, according to Lenta.ru. The final market price for the projects the developers will be responsible for is estimated to be worth $1.2 billion, according to Blackwood Real Estate’s executive partner Konstantin Kovalyov, while the total investment needed is estimated at $255 million-$340 million, head of commercial estate department at GVA Sawyer, Roman Shcherbak, told RBC Daily.

Автор: Alina Lobzina

The Moscow News, November, 30 2011