Companies can allocate space in new buildings for Russian Post

The Ministry of Digital Development and State Duma deputies are working on the issue of allocating free space for Russian Post offices in new microdistricts. We are talking about premises on the first floors of new buildings, where the state company will be able to place offices on a par with kindergartens or clinics. The market demand for such premises is growing, and their price has increased by 7% over the year. Therefore, experts believe that developers who are interested in Russian Post as a commercial tenant will oppose the initiative.

The head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, said at an extended meeting of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications on March 26 that the ministry plans to introduce standards for the organization of Russian Post branches in residential buildings.

“A lot of housing is now being built in the Russian Federation, these are large microdistricts where social standards for the construction of kindergartens and clinics continue to apply, but Russian Post is excluded from the standards,” the minister explained. In his opinion, developers who introduce housing should donate “certain areas” on the first floors to Russian Post free of charge. “The issue is being studied and will be submitted for consideration by the committee in the future,” Mr. Shadayev clarified.

The head of the committee, Alexander Khinshtein, said that he is participating in the development of the initiative and supports it. In response to a request from Kommersant, he added that “when discussing last year the strategy for the development of the communications industry until 2035, he proposed this measure as socially important.”

“Large microdistricts are now being built, but their residents are often connected to existing post offices, creating an additional load,” explained Mr. Khinshtein. “The free transfer by the developer of space for Russian Post offices will solve the problem.”

The Ministry of Digital Development added that developers must provide premises for Russian Post, along with other social infrastructure, when constructing microdistricts and residential complexes, “based on the potential number of residents and taking into account the current requirements for the location of branches.” The company itself emphasized that “residents of new microdistricts need all the social infrastructure, of which the post office is an integral part.”

At the end of 2023, the Federal Treasury completed the audit of Russian Post for 2022, during which it determined the loss of the state-owned company at 24.5 billion rubles. (see “Kommersant” dated December 1, 2023 of the year). Due to the continuing losses of the state-owned company, the Ministry of Digital Development suggested that regions determine which of the Russian Post branches in areas with a population of more than 10 thousand people can be closed (see “Kommersant” dated November 16 2023). However, Alexander Khinshtein did not support this approach on March 26, clarifying that such actions lead to “the death of the populated areas themselves.”

According to SimpleEstate, in Moscow the demand for empty premises on the first floors of new buildings is growing: over the year they have risen in price by more than 7%. Now the average price is about 440 thousand rubles. per square meter, this is the highest figure in the last year and a half. However, researchers noted that previously such real estate was on average 100–150 square meters. m, options were also offered for 300 sq. m, and today the areas are becoming smaller (see “Kommersant” dated February 11).

Sales Director of the Mangazeya developer Fyodor Ushakov believes that the new idea of ​​the Ministry of Digital Development is feasible, but on a gratuitous basis the developer is not interested, since it becomes an additional social burden, similar to schools and kindergartens. “Now we are putting Russian Post points into the infrastructure of our new projects, but on a commercial basis,” he explains.

It is important, Mr. Ushakov clarifies, to lay down the requirements of Russian Post for premises at the design stage, first of all, access roads, unloading zones, and so on: “As part of pre-brokerage (studying the real demand for a commercial facility.— “Kommersant”) we clarified that Russian Post is actively considering branches in promising locations up to 400 sq. m”. On a commercial basis, the top manager admits, “this is an interesting tenant.”

Tatyana Isakova, Timofey Kornev, Daria Andrianova