Moscow - Future Development

Future Development

The "Moscow International Business Center" is a projected new part of central Moscow. Geographically situated in Presnensky District, located at the Third Ring, the Moscow City area is under intense development. The goal of MIBC "Moscow City" is to create a zone, the first in Russia, and in all of Eastern Europe, that will combine business activity, living space and entertainment. It will be a city within a city. The project was conceived by the Moscow government in 1992.

The construction of MIBC "Moscow-City" takes place on the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. The whole project takes up to 1 square kilometer (247 acres). This area is the only spot in downtown Moscow that can accommodate a project of this magnitude. Today, most of the buildings there are old factories and industrial complexes.

The Federation Tower, now being built is to be completed in 2016, will become the tallest building in Europe when completed. Also to be included in the project are a water park and other recreational facilities; business and entertainment complexes, numerous prestigious office and residential buildings, the transport network and the new site of the Moscow government. The construction of four new metro stations in the territory has already been completed, two of which have already opened and two others are reserved for future metro lines crossing MIBC, some additional stations were planned. A rail shuttle service, directly connecting MIBC with the Sheremetyevo International Airport is also planned. Major thoroughfares through Moscow-City are the Third Ring and Kutuzovsky Prospekt. Three metro stations were initially planned for the Filyovskaya Line. The station Delovoi Tsentr opened in 2005, and was later renamed "Vystavochnaya" in 2009. The branch extended to the Mezhdunarodnaya station in 2006, and all work on third station, Dorogomilovskaya (between Kiyevskaya and Delovoi Tsentr), has been postponed. It was recently announced that there are plans to extend the branch as far as the Savyolovskaya station, on the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line.

A Fourth Ring freeway (in addition to Moscow Automobile Ring Road, Garden Ring and the Third Ring) has been designed and is being built around Moscow. It is to be completed by 2012 and will have a total length of 61 kilometres (38 mi).

A rail connection linking the international airports at Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo with downtown terminals is also planned.

In March 2009 the Russian business newspaper "Kommersant" reported that because of the Worldwide Economic Crisis, which started in 2008 and spread globally, many of the construction projects in Moscow (especially in the "Moscow International Business Center") are frozen and may be cancelled altogether—like the ambitious "Russia Tower" in "Moscow-city". Many of yesterday's monstrous development groups are now in a near-bankrupt state like the Mirax-group or AFI Development.