Published on 28 April 2006 at 09:43 am
Filed in Property News for Russia » Buying Property in St. Petersburg
The stunningly beautiful historic Russian city of St. Petersburg is benefiting substantially from its strategic alliance with the Chinese city of Shanghai; St. Petersburg is receiving significant foreign direct investment assistance from China particularly in its real estate sector.
Over 50 Shanghai based companies are buying property in St. Petersburg and establishing operations in the city and now a Shanghai led consortium of investors are collectively investing around five hundred and forty five million US dollars in a massive residential and commercial property investment project to regenerate the heart of the Russian city.
St. Petersburg and Shanghai are sister cities and the mayor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matviyenko has been instrumental in the promotion of the benefits of investing in property in Russia during numerous visits to China. Matviyenko secured the latest property investment commitment from Zao Baltic Pearl last year; Zao Baltic Pearl is a consortium of Shanghai based investors including Shimao International Holdings and Shanghai Construction Group who are committing to the regeneration of one hundred and sixty four million square meters of land in the heart of St. Petersburg.
International investors interested in buying property in St. Petersburg will soon have a series of new residential and commercial real estate projects to invest in when the Baltic Pearl project is completed. The project will see the creation of apartments, retail centres, office blocks, hotels and a health and exhibition centre in St. Petersburg. The entire project will cost an estimated 1.3 billion US dollars of which five hundred and forty five million US dollars will be received from China in the form of loans and direct investment; the rest will be financed by private property investors looking to Russia as one of the world’s most exciting new emerging real estate markets.
This particular St. Petersburg property development project will be undertaken in a series of four phases of construction and the project is expected to begin in the summer of 2006 and be completed within eight years. The Zao Baltic Pearl regeneration project is just one of a series of large investment projects being undertaken in the Russian city of St. Petersburg to promote the city’s standing as a tourism destination and an international business city.
In the last week alone it has been announced that two new water related theme parks are opening in St. Petersburg to assist with the city’s bid to attract growing numbers of tourists and to boost its tourism related economy; it was further announced that Nissan are investing over two hundred million US dollars into St. Petersburg for the development of a car assembly plant. This will bring much needed employment to the region and further boost the local economy. All incredibly positive indicators for those buying property in St. Petersburg for long term investment gains it seems.
