Chicago-based Golub & Co. will develop a Western-style office conversion project in St. Petersburg, Russia, as part of an effort by officials there to increase the amount of first-class office space available in the city.
The project will include the conversion and historic restoration of the 108,000-square-foot Nevskii 25 on St. Petersburg’s main thoroughfare, Nevskii Prospekt.
Golub will be joined in its efforts by the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, an equity investor, and Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering, a St. Petersburg firm. Golub is also an investor in the $20 million project.
“Golub & Co. is the first American real estate firm to undertake commercial real estate development in St. Petersburg and we are delighted to play a major role in the city’s rebirth,” said Michael Newman, chief operating officer.
A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled for April 16 on the site, and construction is set to start shortly thereafter. The project, which involves renovation to Western standards of the building’s interior and the restoration of its facade, is expected to be completed in mid-1995.
The 100-year-old-plus building, currently vacant and deteriorating, had been used as apartments, with limited commercial space.
The project marks the second Russian venture for Golub. It is planning a 270,000-square-foot office building in Moscow with a Russian joint-venture partner. That project, near the Kremlin, is expected to start this year.
Golub has also been active in Warsaw, where it has one office development completed and leased and is planning two more. The company is also marketing a Budapset office building.
Wanted: Developer
The Society of the Divine Word, owners of the Techny property in the north suburbs, are once again searching for a developer for a 47-acre tract following the withdrawal of Forest City-Harris Group from the project.
Rev. Francis J. Kamp, chairman of the society’s land use committee, which oversees the project, said the parcel is planned for multifamily residential construction under an annexation agreement with the village of Northbrook.
The development of the tract is part of a master plan to develop portions of the society’s 770-acre Techny property at Waukegan and Willow Roads. The society has designated about 312 acres for commercial development and 112 acres for residential construction; 160 acres are to be open space.
The society’s plan, prepared by the Chicago architectural and planning firm of Alper and Alper, was approved in 1988. The society, a Roman Catholic missionary order, is retaining 156 acres on the east side of Willow for its continuing religious use.
“Over the years, we have taken painstaking steps to ensure that the development of the land surrounding our home is appropriate,” Kamp said.
Kamp said recent improvements in the general economy should make it possible to move the multifamily portion of the project forward. He said the society expected to name a new developer within the next few weeks.
Minority advancement
Stein & Co. has established a scholarship at Roosevelt University’s Heller College of Business that will assist minorities and women in business.
Under the program, Stein & Co. will provide a minority student in the college with tuition support and a part-time paid internship during the semester.
“The dual support offered by the program will provide an important dimension of practical application and employment experience in addition to financial aid,” said Richard Hanson, vice chairman of the real estate firm.
The first scholarship has been awarded to Celestine Gogins, a sophomore accounting major. Gogins recently began her internship in Stein & Co.’s financial services department.
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Steve Kerch’s columns appear in Real Estate on Sunday and in Your Money on Thursday.
