ROSSTRO To Build Business Centre

OAO ROSSTRO has begun reconstruction of No. 37, Moika embankment.

<BR>OAO ROSSTRO has begun reconstruction of No. 37, Moika embankment. <BR>A business centre is to be opened on the site at the end of the year. This is the first building that ROSSTRO is reconstructing specifically to become a business centre. The company has experience of managing business centres: it already manages several buildings around the city. The total area of the building, located near Pevchesky Bridge, is 3,400 square metres. It was built at the end of the 19th Century, but does not have the status of an 'architectural monument', as the architect is unknown. In 1997 the building's tenants - then the building was used for communal flats - were rehoused by ROSSTRO. The original plan was to reserve some of the building for residential use, but it was later calculated that offices are a more profitable application. "Our experience shows, that it is more profitable to manage a building, than just to sell it," says ROSSTRO's projects director, Viktor Makarov. "After tenants have occupied the building, the second stage of reconstruction will go ahead, building a penthouse and enclosing the internal yard with a cupola, producing another 600m2."