Commercial Real Estate Blog



The WSJ is reporting in their commercial real estate section today on office space in Moscow. The numbers are staggering compared with almost anything we have in the US. The average cost of “prime” space in Moscow is $223 psf per year, up 92% from the first quarter of last year when the average was $121. Adjusting for exchange rates, the rate in 2001 was $61 a square foot.

Some sites near the Kremlin are reported to be asking north of $300 per year ($25 psf/month!).  By contrast, the most expensive space in California comes in at about $192 psf/year, and the highest end space in San Francisco is about $100 psf.

In response to these sky high rents and robust demand, developers are planning on increasing the available inventory of space by 25% by delivering approximately 21.5M square feet of space to the market by 2011.

Amongst the projects being delivered is RussiaLand’s Russia Tower, a massive 600m tall mixed-use project featuring what will be the tallest building in Europe. The project video is featured above. 

The Serra Shopping Center in Milpitas sold for $43.9M. The center is an older center, anchored by Big Lots and Walgreens sitting on 16.4 Acres in Milpitas at the terminus of Highway 237. The buyer, Lap Tang Development Co. intends to redevelop the site into a mixed-use project with 350+ for sale condo units in addition to approximately 130,000 square feet of retail.