Moscow’s chief architect, Sergei Kuznetsov, has approved the construction of a second Metropolis shopping mall next door to the first on Leningradskoye Shosse, news reports said Thursday.
Investment in the mall, due to open in 2016, will total between $130 million and $150 million, Yuly Borisov, general director of UNK project, the architecture firm that proposed the approved design, told Itar-Tass.
Real estate firm Tengri Development will act as an official investor, Borisov said, adding that Capital Brothers, who were involved in the first glass-fronted Metropolis mall, will also participate.
The reported $1.2 billion paid by Morgan Stanley’s real estate investment division earlier this year for the plot of land that will host the new center is rumored to be the largest in the history of Russia’s commercial property market.
Spanning 65,800 square meters, the Metropolis-2 mall will be 28 meters tall and provide underground parking for 199 vehicles, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported. A 500-meter pedestrian walkway will link the center to the Voikovskaya metro station.
City planners have not approved projects in the city center for a long time, Borisov said, as they are working to reduce the stress on Moscow’s main thoroughfares by creating shopping alternatives on the city perimeter.
However, the new shopping center will not substantially increase congestion on Leningradskoye Shosse, he said.
