OTEKO is negotiating the lease of the former Moscow Exchange office on Vozdvizhenka

The former Moscow Exchange office on Vozdvizhenka opposite the Kremlin has found a new tenant. The operator of oil and coal terminals, the United Freight Forwarding Company (OTECO), may become one. Now such transactions are rare for the market, as many companies, in order to save money, on the contrary, are trying to rent space in business centers outside the central business district of Moscow.

The fact that OTEKO is negotiating a lease in a business center on Vozdvizhenka 8 thousand square meters. m, which was previously occupied by the Moscow Exchange, two sources told Kommersant in the real estate market. The company declined to comment. The representative office of the Luxembourg MSD SARL, which, according to Kommersant’s interlocutors, is the owner of the facility, did not respond to a request.

The operator of oil and coal terminals OTEKO calls itself the largest private investor in the port and industrial infrastructure of southern Russia. The revenue of OTEKO JSC in 2022, according to SPARK-Interfax, increased 3.5 times, to 5.9 billion rubles, net profit amounted to 292 million rubles.

OTEKO can pay 245 million rubles for its new office near the Kremlin. per year at the rate of 35 thousand rubles. for 1 sq. m, calculated the director of the department of representing the interests of tenants Nikoliers Francois Nonnenmacher. Natalya Nikitina, head of the office real estate department at the Commonwealth Partnership, talks about 320 million rubles.

Now the demand for premium business centers has noticeably decreased: this trend began to emerge during the pandemic. It was then, in 2021, that the Moscow Exchange, which occupied space in the office center on Vozdvizhenka, decided to abandon their lease in favor of transferring part of the employees to the Comcity business park in New Moscow. In a period of uncertainty, many companies are trying to optimize the cost of renting offices, so deals with office facilities in the center of Moscow are now rare, says Natalia Nikitina.

The NF Group emphasizes that in high-budget facilities in Moscow, more pronounced release of premises is still ongoing than in other segments. According to IBC Real Estate, the vacancy rate in such properties at the end of March 2023 increased by 8.1 percentage points (p.p.) year-on-year, to 24.7%. This happened, in particular, due to the withdrawal of international companies from the Russian market, which mainly occupied premium business centers. Against this backdrop, rental rates in the segment fell by 8% yoy to RUB 42.2 thousand. for 1 sq. m per year, specify in NF Group.

According to Ekaterina Belova, head of the IBC Real Estate office space department, now the most common request from potential tenants is to search for an office at a price of 25,000 rubles. for 1 sq. m per year. For comparison: in 2021, this figure was at least 30 thousand rubles.

Against this background, a large proportion of transactions began to be concluded outside the city center. In the first quarter of 2023, properties in the central business district accounted for only 32% of transactions, according to IBC Real Estate. According to Natalya Nikitina, in January-March 2023, the share of lease and sublease transactions concluded outside the Third Ring Road in class A facilities was 23%, while the April-May indicator increased by 17 p.p. and amounted to 40%. Nevertheless, there are now many buildings in the center of Moscow, the owners of which are ready to rent space at a discount, says Ekaterina Kryukova, asset manager for office real estate at Accent Capital. This, she hopes, “could stop the exodus of tenants to the outskirts.”

Daria Andrianova