Zheldoripoteka will develop 640 hectares owned by Russian Railways

Russian Railways (RZD) transferred 640 hectares in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities to the management of its subsidiary Zheldoripoteka (which builds housing for railway workers under the Russian Railways mortgage program). To build on these lands a minimum of 1 million square meters. m of various real estate "Zheldoripoteka" will attract third-party investors. The withdrawal of railway infrastructure could increase construction costs by a third, developers warn.

On Friday, Zheldoripoteka announced the launch of a joint program with Russian Railways to develop 26 land plots with a total area of 640 hectares owned by the railway monopoly in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Astrakhan, Perm, Vladivostok, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod and Novosibirsk. “It’s too early to talk about exactly how these territories will develop,” said Vitaly Votolevsky, general director of Zheldoripoteka. “The site development concept being developed by Zheldoripoteka will first be approved by Russian Railways. It is planned to attract co-investors for the development of some sites,” explained Russian Railways representative Dmitry Pertsov.

Zheldoripoteka clarified that out of 26 sites, 15 are located in the capital: among them are the territories adjacent to the Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky and Savelovsky railway stations, the section of the section from the Fili and Setun platforms in the west of Moscow. The development of another site included in the agreement with Russian Railways—the Voitovich plant in the area of the Ploshchad Ilyich metro station—has almost begun. On 7.85 hectares managed by the plant, it is planned to build a multifunctional complex of 250 thousand square meters. m, the remaining more than 10 hectares are currently being developed (see Kommersant, November 9, 2007).

CJSC Zheldoripoteka was created by Russian Railways in 2001 to build housing for railway workers. 100% minus one share is owned by ANO Zheldorreforma. The company is implementing 70 projects with a total value of about 30 billion rubles. In 2007, the value of the CJSC's assets, according to its own estimates, was 21 billion rubles, revenue - 4.067 billion rubles.

Without attracting third-party investors, the “subsidiary” of the state monopoly is unlikely to be able to independently develop all the plots transferred to it, developers are convinced. According to the estimates of Trest 1991 Deputy General Director Tatyana Palchikova, construction of more than 1 million square meters is possible on 640 hectares. m of various real estate, construction costs on average could amount to about $1.5 billion. “Russian Railways’ projects will be of interest to third-party investors if the average return on invested capital does not fall below 30% per annum,” says Svetlana, General Director of the Orgstroyinvest Group of Companies Tretyakov. But, she notes, the high costs of removing the railway infrastructure will increase the cost of construction at Russian Railways sites by at least a third.

Russian Railways first announced the development of its lands in 2006 - then the monopoly and the Moscow authorities created a special coordination council. Since then, Mirax Group has received management of a project to develop the above-track space in the Kyiv direction (it is planned to build 2.3 million sq. m of various real estate) and, possibly, will be a co-investor in the reconstruction of the Kursky Station (it is planned to build 790 thousand sq. m). The plans of Russian Railways and the Moscow government are to close and repurpose the freight yards of the Riga, Smolensky, Kievsky, Yaroslavsky stations - a total of about 92.5 hectares, where, according to experts, about 2.8 million square meters can be built. m (see "Kommersant" dated November 2, 2007). In addition, the monopoly began to develop land plots it owned in St. Petersburg. The same Zheldoripoteka is developing 55 hectares of the Warsaw transport hub. Another company controlled by Russian Railways, Rosregionproekt Development, plans to build 900 thousand square meters in the center of St. Petersburg on 21 hectares belonging to the Moskovskaya-Tovarnaya station. m of housing and offices (see Kommersant, March 31).

Khalil Kommersant-Aminov

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