By Olga Kalashnikova

The St. Petersburg Times

Jones Lang Lasalle

The new mall has a Classical facade.

The giant new retail center Galeria in the center of St. Petersburg opened its doors to its first customers Thursday.

Galeria’s location on Ligovsky Prospekt was originally set to house a railway complex of high-speed lines. For this purpose, two historic buildings were demolished in the 90s. But at this point, work stopped and the site became known locally as “the pit behind Moscow Railway Station.” Eventually, the city decided not to give the plot to the railways, but to transfer it to business and build a large shopping center.

“We have won a victory in this never-ending project,” St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko said at the official opening ceremony Wednesday. “A modern shopping center has opened on the site of the notorious ‘pit’ near Moscow Railway Station. The city has been waiting for this event for more than 15 years.”

The governor said that the new center blended harmoniously with the old buildings in this area, and thanked investors for treating the city’s architecture with care and building the mall in a “classical style.”

“Nowadays, most of the facades on Ligovsky Prospekt have been renovated, and there is a separate zone for public vehicles,” Matviyenko said. “There are lots of shops and cafes, modern hotels and business centers. The new complex will decorate Ligovsky,” she added.

The new mall is one of the biggest shopping centers in Eastern Europe, with about 250 shops, 10 cinema screens, a bowling alley, restaurants and children’s facilities spread across five floors covering a total area of 192,000 square meters. The complex is situated at the junction of two major thoroughfares, Nevsky and Ligovsky prospects.

Analysts predict that the project will be a success, citing the examples of large Moscow complexes based near major railway stations.

“The inhabitants of all city districts and of the nearest districts of the LenOblast — especially those that are connected by train with the Moscow Railway station — will visit the complex,” said Igor Kokorev, a project manager at Knight Frank real estate consultancy in St. Petersburg.

“Among the customers, there will be city residents who work or study in the center, and the project will also attract people who come into the center at weekends. And some of the visitors will include tourists, attracted by the ‘biggest shopping complex in the city center,’” he added.

Just two weeks ago, another major shopping center opened near Galeria at 114 Nevsky Prospekt — the Stockmann Nevsky Center, which occupies 100,000 square meters. Experts agree that there could be competition between the two malls, as the projects have a similar price range and some retailers even opened outlets in both shopping centers, such as M.video electronics retailer. The close proximity of the two malls could, however, prove to be an advantage, experts agree, saying it is a normal situation for big cities, and that competition only makes the centers develop and constantly offer something new to customers.

“Some customers will go to these two centers just because they can visit the maximum number of shops in a short time,” said Kokorev. “The advantage of Galeria is that it has a larger volume of shops, a developed entertainment section, a variety of food halls, and an overall bigger size.”

Moreover, the projects differ from each other in their basic functions, said Kokorev.

“If Stockmann is, first and foremost, a store, at Galeria the main element is entertainment and food facilities,” he said.

As both complexes are targeted at people who regularly visit the city center, there won’t be a critical deterioration of the transport situation in this area, experts say.

“Quite the opposite; during the rush hour when people leave the center, there might be less dense traffic flows because of people visiting the shopping centers after work,” said Kokorev.

On weekends, however, the traffic volume in this district may increase, and there is a high risk of more traffic jams. Another traffic problem, experts predict, will be caused by the line of cars waiting to enter the mall’s parking lot, which will make traffic on Ligovsky Prospekt worse. According to City Hall, Galeria has the largest underground parking lot in Russia, with a capacity of 1,500 vehicles.