Hundreds of thousands of square meters of office and hotel space can change the appearance of the city’s Moskovsky District and the city as a whole, confirmed the experts attending the annual Pulkovo Area developers’ meeting on November 16. The data presented by the participants suggest that Pulkovo might become a very successful public/private partnership in St. Petersburg.
The total area of just a few major facilities currently under construction in Pulkovo exceeds 250,000 sq m. These projects include a four-star Crown Plaza Hotel totaling 24,000 sq m and three Class A business centres by Avielen AG slated for commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2011. The construction of a 100,000 sq m international Congress & Exposition Centre by ExpoForum is in full swing. The Pulkovo Sky Business Centre by EKE and a technology park by Technopolis have already become operational.
Last year’s meeting of the Pulkovo Area developers demonstrated their optimism about the future, which in 2010 brought real results. Back in 2009, they had apprehensions that the crisis-laden market would be unable to digest large-scale construction, and overloaded traffic will result in a traffic collapse provided there’s interest in Pulkovo as a location at all. One year later, the skeptics had to admit that the occupancy rates of new high-quality facilities in the new business area were quite impressive, and the traffic layout around Pulkovo was among the best in town despite certain unresolved issues. “One year ago we built the first business centre. Two more were built during the summer,” says Andrey Khitrov, CEO at Transway Severo-Zapad (Pulkovo Sky Business Centre). “Back in November, we had leased out as little as 15% of the premises, however now this number is up at 60%. In other words, in a matter of one year we saw 60 tenants move our way and lease almost 20,000 sq m.” The owner took care of inadequate transportation by providing free shuttle service from the nearly metro stations.
“Sixty percent in a matter of one year is a great achievement,” says Andrey Kanivets, CEO at Avienen AG OAO, speaking in support of his colleague and neighbour. “We view these numbers as a matter of principle, because we ourselves are getting ready to launch four of our own projects. During the past year, we completed the infrastructure side of the project – connected all utilities – and established compliance with technical requirements regarding power, gas and water supply for our facilities. A lot of work was done inside the hotel building. Today, the buildings are almost 80% completed.”
Peter Coachman, Head of St. Petersburg Technopolis, zeroed in on the project’s image when speaking about the local development effort. “Pulkovo is an attractive area all by itself, and new high-quality facilities create a new reality for the entire city. When building our technology park, my goal was to have everyone who goes past the building think: “I’m no longer in Russia, this must be Finland.” Then it’ll become clear that the issue is about a whole new level of service, not just a differently looking building. And many people agreed with this point of view, since by now the building commissioned in September 2010 has been filled by 60%.”
The activity of private developers provides stimulus to the municipal authorities: All major innovation projects pursued by the St. Petersburg administration are being implemented in this area. However, even with all the city’s ambitious projects to develop the Pulkovo infrastructure, the Transportation Infrastructure Committee has to acknowledge that it falls behind the pace set by the developers. “We see investors who are trying to be very dynamic in developing this area, however we cannot keep up with the development of the road system,” noted Andrey Shashkov, Senior Expert at the Department for Design, Capital Construction and Road Facilities at the St. Petersburg Transportation Infrastructure Committee. The fact that transportation remains a challenge is also recognised by Anton Buchiev, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Investment and Strategic Projects, who pointed out that his Committee was addressing, in particular, plans to develop land to the west of Pulkovo that are currently used by horticultural associations and collective farms. “We are looking into providing transportation services in this area, particularly the portion which is adjacent to the city’s beltway, as lack of transportation access or exit ramps from the beltway hinders development of this part of the city.”
Transportation issues are often brought up in connection with Pulkovo business district. The construction of a new airport terminal and renovation of the existing one will turn Pulkovo into an international hub. A new terminal will be built to the right of the existing Pulkovo 1 Terminal with a new hotel, parking facility and an office centre to be built right across from it. They haven’t decided yet on how Pulkovo-2 Terminal would be used after completion of the construction. Several options are under consideration.
The first phase of construction of the new terminal will be completed in 2014, says the Committee. So far, the facilities already under construction keep posing new challenges. Elena Nogova, Deputy General Director at the R&D Institute for Regional Development and Transportation noted that studies of traffic loads revealed the need for another access road to the airport. “If the airport is built in keeping with the design specifications, Pulkovskoye Highway won’t be able to handle that much traffic, even with the help from the Ground Express.” “The Congress & Exposition Centre is located a bit further than other facilities shown here, and we are currently busy developing a transportation project for this area commissioned by the municipal administration,” says Dmitry Frolov, head of the support department at ExpoForum ZAO. “Our plans for this year include submitting the first phase paperwork for expert analysis – that includes renovation of the Petersburg Highway, building a crossover across the railway tracks, expanding the highway to include 6 lanes, and constructing a road junction for our Centre that includes the 100,000 sq m exposition centre, two (3- and 4-star) hotels, and two business centres.”
The size of the current and scheduled construction in the vicinity of Pulkovo serves as an example of collaborative effort between business entities and public authorities with regard to construction of strategically important facilities in St. Petersburg. The reputation of an area most favoured by authorities might become a substantial contribution to the history of such cooperation that is so much needed for future evolution of the public/private partnership.
