Moscow real estate experts say that the opening of new pedestrian zones has launched a new era on the capital’s street retail market. Roman Tkachenko, Head of the Representative Office of RD Group in Russia, shared with CRE Retail his views on the development of retail real estate in pedestrian zones.
Today in the West the topic of street retail is catching a lot of attention as entire streets with a common concept, special pathways, balconies and leisure areas are appearing, CRE Retail reports.
Following these world trends, a new public space is developing in Moscow – Romanov Alley, the first conceptual pedestrian street in the city.
A GASTRONOMIC STREET
“We did a survey among the residents of the neighborhood to determine what they want to see here. Everyone really liked the idea of gastronomic street,” Roman Tkachenko said. “Right now on Romanov Alley the reconstruction work has been completed on two buildings, where the café-bakery Paul and Armenian restaurant Dolmama have opened.”
In the future another restaurant, perhaps Italian, will open on the alley while the other buildings on the street will host culinary shops and boutiques offering farmers’ products.
A UNIQUE PROJECT
In his interview with CRE Retail, Roman Tkachenko noted that the uniqueness of Romanov Alley lies in the fact that it is the first pedestrian area which is being created from scratch as a development project. “According to the calculations of the project investor Moscow Constructin and Development, Romanov Alley will return the investment in 8–10 years,” the expert concluded.
ROMANOV ALLEY
The pedestrian street Romanov Alley is situated only 500 meters from the Kremlin walls: between Mokhovaya Street and Romanov Pereulok. This is one of the most prestigious districts in Moscow. The investor is the Luxembourg company Moscow Construction and Development and the developer is RD Group (part of RD Group). The project is currently in the development process and will be fully completed in 2016.