After a two-year delay, construction of Moscow Gate, a campus-style business park on the shores of Moscow's Lake Khimki is set to begin late this fall, according to officials at Business Park Development (BPD), one of the companies behind the project.

The business park will be offering A and A-minus class offices, said Artyom Kozlovsky, executive director of BPD, which is an affiliate in the project with Chelverton Properties.

Initially, the Moscow Gate business park will span 7 hectares, though it is envisaged the park could become part of a larger 150-hectare project, according to BPD officials.

"This will be the first campus-style business facility in Russia," said Kozlovsky, "with the ratio in the park of natural forest area to the built-up section being 70 to 30."

Emphasizing the importance of the business park environment, BPD officials point out that Moscow Gate will feature the largest proportion of forestry among the campus style business centers of Eastern Europe.

"According to the concept, Moscow Gate will look exactly the same as a typically conservative British landscape, featuring parks and fountains," said Kozlovsky. The complex is located close to Leningradsky Prospekt – beyond the Garden Ring on the highway linking the city center to the Sheremetyevo international airport.

BPD officials say location is of primary importance in the construction business. "Moscow Gate's location outside of the Garden Ring is ideal," said Kozlovsky. "It is more convenient for driving. The Moscow Ring Road [MKAD] is closed, so from Moscow Gate, it is convenient to get anywhere in Moscow without having to travel through the congested city center."

Kozlovsky said the additional advantages of the business park's location were the good environment and competitive prices.

"To work in an ecologically pleasant environment is better than to work among the concrete boxes of the Moscow center. Furthermore, rental rates will be 10-20 percent lower at Moscow Gate than at a similar site inside the Garden Ring," he added.

The Moscow Gate project actually began in August 1998, but the financial crisis that engulfed Russia that month forced the project into a grinding halt as businesses went bust and foreign investors fled the country.

"At that time, the political situation was not optimistic and many potential tenants began leaving the Russian market," Kozlovsky said of the crisis. "Although over the next two years the project development stages moved slowly, we were able to adjust the concept and have the initial package of Moscow City permits. We are working on a technical feasibility study and to get the necessary approvals will take around three months."

To date, the only investor in the project is Chelverton Properties Company. The Moscow Gate project is similar to Chelverton's Wisnowy Park project in Warsaw – with the same design and a similar location: close to the highway connecting the international airport to the city center.

"The Chelverton developing company has already invested a considerable amount in this project for the concept elaboration and coordination with all the engineering issues," said Kozlovsky.

The tenants BPD has lined up for Moscow Park include leading international companies, Kozlovsky said. In general, construction in the park only begins once a pre-lease has been obtained for a building.

"Normally, the whole building or half of it is sold to a company after it is constructed," said Kozlovsky. "We work to the particular tenant's requirements and that is why we are not frightened by competitors." He said the Moscow Gate project was initially designed for an international electronics company.

"After the 1998 crisis, the firm decided against participation. But three or four months ago, they let us know that they were interested in an office on the site," Kozlovsky added. "We have pre-leases on the two first buildings [in the park] from a major Russian telecommunications company."

The project is also slated to include a fourth building, but work will not begin on that any earlier than 2002. Kozlovsky is optimistic about the project's prospects and the situation in the market in general.

"Major international companies are now coming back to Russia after the break during the last two gloomy years," he said.

BPD officials said the seven-hectare project is part of a major concept of developing the 150-hectare area. "According to a resolution by the [Moscow] mayor, we have the right to expand the proposal to include building up the territory on the side of Khimki Lake right up to the Moscow Ring Road," Kozlovsky said.

The company is also considering building shopping and recreational facilities on the 150-hectare site.

(E-mail Building Blocks at sam@russiajournal.com.)