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In general, the "Big City" project conceived by B. Thor in the distant 90s can be called a success, because its main part, the Moscow International Business Center, promises to be completed within the next few years. The appearance of such a giant could not go unnoticed by the residents of Moscow, but does it somehow affect their lives, except for introducing significant changes to the architectural appearance of the city?
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On the relatively small 50-hectare plot of land occupied by Moscow City skyscrapers, there are currently about 3 million square meters of office and residential space, and in the near future another 1 million square meters will be put into operation. This is the data cited by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin during a working meeting on the further development and implementation of the Big City project.
He emphasized that it will be completed in 6-7 years, which will be a significant boost to the development of the Moscow economy, because Moscow-City is a profitable project not only for developers and business owners operating here, but also for the entire capital and its residents. The words of the capital's mayor cannot be called unfounded. After all, in 2020 alone, Moscow-City brought 77 billion rubles to the city budget in the form of personal income tax deductions.
The main part of the Moscow-City towers was built over the last 9 years, and now the territory of the business center is visited daily by about 140 thousand people. Most of them work in offices located in skyscrapers, some are residents of their own or rented apartments, and others come to the City on an excursion. After all, it is here that you can listen to a lecture for free in an amazing museum of high-rise construction, breathe in the fresh air and admire the Moscow panorama from the highest observation deck in Europe, visit the "heavenly" chocolate factories. In addition, it is here that couples often come to unite their hearts and destinies forever. After all, the Moscow-City skyscrapers are one of the most popular non-standard locations for holding a wedding ceremony (more than 400 couples have signed here this year alone).
The steadily growing popularity of the "Big City" is greatly facilitated by excellent transport accessibility. Over the course of 8 years from 2011 to 2019, the carrying capacity of public transport in the business district doubled. Sergei Sobyanin also noted that today's attendance of the district is far from the limit.
After all, in addition to the fact that the district itself is actively developing, and many problems have already been solved in providing it with transport communications, work on creating new transport arteries does not stop. The largest transport hub for all of Russia was organized here, formed by three metro lines with the stations "Business Center" and "Mezhdunarodnaya", MCC, MCD-1 and public transport stops.
In the near future, the construction of MCD-4, which is a large-scale project, will be completed. Thanks to it, a connection will be created between the Kyiv and Belorussky directions with the possibility of transit movement of trains, the Poklonnaya Gora, Kutuzovskaya and Kamushki stations will open. Their commissioning is scheduled for 2024. A year later, the stations of the Big Circle Line of the metro will be commissioned, namely Ulitsa Narodnogo Opolcheniya, Karamyshevskaya, Mnevniki.
As for the highways, over the past years, interchanges have been built that connect Moscow-City with the Third Transport Ring and Zvenigorodskoye Highway, and pedestrian crossings have been created. Also under construction is the northern bypass of Kutuzovsky Prospekt, which will operate on a toll basis. All these events, according to Sobyanin, have become important not only for Moscow-City residents, but also for residents of nearby areas, because millions of Muscovites use the new routes.
There's more to come
Sergei Sobyanin also noted that the business center was built with the expectation of ensuring further active development of the surrounding areas. It became a trigger for comprehensive renovation of both housing and industrial zones, where dozens of abandoned facilities are located. Also next in line is the improvement of embankments and green areas.
In total, the embankments in the territory of the "Big City" occupy 24 km. All of them are subject to renovation, and the first in line is the improvement of the Shelepikhinskaya Embankment, stretching from the Third Transport Ring to 3 Silikatny Proezd. In a few years, efforts will be switched to changing the "Moscow-City" pier, which will become one of the main stops of the river tram connecting the Fili Park with the Kievsky Railway Station. Since about a million passengers are interested in this type of transport, boats depart every 4-10 minutes. In addition, the modernization of the embankments promises to attract even more people who want to walk along the Moskva River, Neskuchny Garden, Vorobyovy Gory and, of course, Moscow-City itself.
The Presnensky District is already undergoing a housing renovation program, and 52 houses are already being resettled. Thus, the residents of the new building on Mukomolny Proyezd will be the owners of apartments in 18 houses of the Kamushki quarter, located in close proximity to Moscow-City. By the way, 987 families have already managed to celebrate their housewarming. Traditionally, the first floors of the high-rise building are occupied by shops, pharmacies, as well as kindergartens, educational and sports clubs. The new complex has its own modern playgrounds and lounge areas, which are located both on the adjacent territory and on the roofs of the stylobates. The residential complex, to which residents of the district are being resettled under the renovation program, grew up on the site of the former Krasnaya Presnya iron foundry.
Also in the foreseeable future, it is planned to renew the territory of the Khrunichev Center, which will provide new jobs. The area will be improved, a central boulevard will appear in it, and Novozavodskaya Street will acquire a pedestrian zone. Thus, over time, the entire territory covered by the Big City project will turn into modern neighborhoods, where conditions will be created not only for comfortable life and work, but also for recreation.
