St. Petersburg, 11 April 2023. Commercial real estate investments in Russia in the first quarter of 2023 totalled $1,348 million (net of land-plot investments). A quarter of this amount – $336 million – was invested in St. Petersburg. Over the twelve months of 2022, some $515 million was invested in St. Petersburg’s commercial real estate (18% of Russia’s total last year).

Nikoliers data show that last time such amount of investment in St. Petersburg’s existing properties was recorded in 2019, when UAE sovereign wealth management fund Mubadala Investment closed the deal to buy 50% of Galereya shopping mall from Morgan Stanley. In 2023, a similarly landmark deal was made by Cosmos Hotel Group (part of diversified holding Sistema) to purchase from Norway’s Wenaas Hotel Russia AS ten hotels in four Russian cities with an aggregate inventory of over 4,000 guest-rooms, including 3,000 units in six establishments in St. Petersburg – Park Inn by Radisson Pribaltiyskaya, Park Inn by Radisson Pulkovskaya, Park Inn by Radisson Nevsky, Radisson Blue Royal Hotel, Park Inn By Radisson Pulkovo, Olympia Garden Hotel.

Other key deals of the first quarter of 2023 include purchase of Pulkovo Sky business centre (76,000 sq. m) by Balchug Capital from the previous Finnish owners, acquisition of a logistic hub (40,000 sq. m) by Central Properties from Logicor, disposal of a multi-temperature warehousing facility in PNK Park Sofiyskaya KAD (23,500 sq. m).