On July 1, AVICA CEO Natalia Tishendorf and Chairman of RD Group Board of Directors Ilya Baybus took part in the business program of the 6th Moscow Urban Forum.
On the second day of the Forum, RD Group representatives served as panelists in the session “Moscow Development. Key players’ expectations from the city”, when the experts discussed the impact of city policy on developers’ investment decisions, as well as a long-term strategy for commercial and housing construction in the capital city.
When speaking at the panel session, Natalia Tishendorf stressed that the current downtown redevelopment concept has been designed to draw Moscow closer to the European format of pedestrian public spaces. In the near future, the results of this work will definitely produce a positive impact on the development of street retail in Moscow. Another important factor consists in authorities’ focus on the transportation component. Thus, the launching of 31 stations of the Moscow Ring Railway will provide additional benefits to the housing projects located in their vicinity.
Moreover, the expert pointed at substantial changes in the level of investment appeal of commercial projects. For instance, while in the past developers planned on erecting shopping malls with the area of 120-150 th. sq.m. as part of Transport Interchange Hub projects, now it is virtually impossible to rent out shopping malls of that size. At the present day, it appears more economically viable to erect shopping malls with the area of 40-60 th. sq.m. as part of Transport Interchange Hub projects from the standpoint of prospects of renting them out. Reduction in the commercial component share produces a dramatic effect on the investment appeal of Transport Interchange Hubs.
In Natalia Tishendorf's opinion, the economy of Transport Interchange Hub projects can be supported either at the expense of state subsidies or by means of granting additional land plots in the vicinity of Transport Interchange Hubs for the purpose of commercial and housing construction. Meanwhile, erecting residential real estate appears more viable in the present-day market circumstances.
According to Ilya Baybus, situation in the investment and construction sector is nor particularly promising. The new reality for developers is characterized by high costs of borrowings and depressed demand for commercial and residential real estate. It is time to think about the ways to restore the purchasing power of the population that has fallen substantially – the Russians are purchasing less housing and are spending less money in the supermarkets. Development of small and medium enterprise supported by state programs may become one of the tools for increasing the purchasing power.
Head of the Town-Planning Policy Department of the city of Moscow Sergey Levkin, Cushman & Wakefield Russia CEO Sergey Ryabokobylko, VTB Senior Vice-President Andrey Peregudov, GC KORTROS President Veniamin Golubitsky, among others, also took part in the session “Moscow Development. Key players’ expectations from the city”.
The Moscow Urban Forum is co-sponsored by the Government of Moscow and provides a major discussion platform for the representatives of state and business structures, independent experts and urban specialists to discuss the issues of capital city development and offer innovative methods for improving life in the city. This year again RD Group served as Forum official partner, the key subjects of which included advanced technologies and megaprojects