Tinkoff rented all the space in the Ferrum II business center in St. Petersburg

Tinkoff (MOEX: TCSG) closed one of the largest transactions in the office market of St. Petersburg, renting the entire Ferrum II business center in this city. The bank will locate its IT department in these areas. Now it is easier and cheaper to hire such personnel in St. Petersburg than in Moscow. Therefore, experts expect that many large companies currently based in the capital will expand their staff and office space in the regions.

Tinkoff Bank rented all the space (30 thousand sq. m) in the Ferrum II business center on Sverdlovskaya embankment in St. Petersburg. This was reported to Kommersant by several sources in the real estate market and confirmed by Teorema Management Company (owner of the property) and Nikoliers (transaction consultant). Tinkoff clarified that this building will house an IT development center for 2.5 thousand employees.

One of Kommersant’s interlocutors says that in Moscow the labor market, particularly in the IT sector, is limited, so a number of companies, including Tinkoff, began to look for specialists and office space for them in other regions. At the same time, it is cheaper to hire the same IT specialists in the regions. To learn that the salaries of such personnel outside Moscow have begun to decline, see the material on page 1 for more details.

Meanwhile, Tinkoff continues to actively increase its workforce. For example, in 2022, the holding company of the bank TCS Group increased the number of employees by 48%, to 64.9 thousand people (see “Kommersant” dated March 15, 2022). The group’s reporting for the third quarter of 2023 indicates that in January-September last year, total personnel costs increased by 26% year-on-year, to RUB 62 billion.

The requested rental rate for space in Ferrum II is 2.3 thousand rubles. for 1 sq. m per month, including VAT, Veronika Chakanova, head of the IPG Estate office group, knows. Thus, Tinkoff Bank will pay about 828 million rubles for the new office. in year. Previously, Tinkoff’s presence in the office market of St. Petersburg was not so noticeable: the company occupies 1.5–2 thousand. sq. m in the Renaissance Pravda business center.

The deal to lease space in Ferrum II is the second largest deal in the office rental segment of St. Petersburg, consultants say. It is second only to the lease agreement for 80 thousand square meters. m in the Nevskaya Ratusha business center, concluded by Gazprom Neft in 2022. At the same time, the record for the entire Russian office market belongs to the Tinkoff group, which rented 90 thousand square meters in 2020. m in the AFI Square business center near the Belorussky railway station in the center of Moscow.

Last year turned out to be active for the St. Petersburg office real estate market. The rate of absorption of such areas exceeded the increase in supply, notes Alena Berdigan, director of the Maris commercial real estate department. According to her, this was due to the moderate pace of commissioning of new facilities, on the other hand, the continued high demand for office real estate. According to Nikoliers estimates, in 2023, the volume of office real estate commissioning in the city decreased by 25% year-on-year, to 133.8 thousand square meters. m, while net absorption (the difference between vacated and occupied space) increased fourfold, to 184.5 thousand sq. m. m.

After foreign companies left the market, the Russian IT sector is showing rapid growth, so in the next five years we plan to build two more buildings in the Polustrovo business park, says Boris Zhukov, CEO of Teorema Management Company. Increased interest in office leasing is observed precisely from the IT segment, which accounts for 42% of all space leased in the city, notes Nikoliers partner Igor Temnyshev.

For example, a year ago Sberbank rented 25.2 thousand square meters for its IT specialists. m in an office complex on Uralskaya Street in the Vasileostrovsky district of St. Petersburg (see Kommersant-SPb dated April 28, 2023). Partner Ricci | Offices” Dmitry Zhidkov expects that the expansion of such large players in St. Petersburg will continue.

Daria Andrianova; Konstantin Kurkin, St. Petersburg