Sberbank of Russia : starts financing unique satellite city near St. Petersburg

Sberbank starts financing CDS Group that's going to implement a large-scale urban project by creating a satellite city called Novosaratovka with a total area of about 700 hectares on the border of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region. At the first stage, the bank is providing about RUB4.8 bn for the construction of a residential area called City of the First. Its apartments will be sold using escrow accounts.

Sberbank has started financing one of the largest urban development projects in the country, which is being implemented in Leningrad Region. At the initial stage, we will finance the construction of the first phases of the City of the First residential area by providing RUB4.8 bn for five years under the concessional lending program run by the Ministry of Economic Development. Then, the bank is set to continue financing this large-scale project, including its infrastructure: the construction of roads and facilities, including social ones.

This is the first time we're providing project finance to CDS Group. However, given the company's vast experience, its reputation, and careful study of the space concept, we are confident this ambitious project, which is of great importance for the entire development industry in Russia, will be a success.

Vladimir Sitnov

Senior Vice President, Sberbank

A strategically important project for our company, CDS Novosaratovka is a future satellite city of St. Petersburg designed for 300,000 residents. The support of such a strong partner as Sberbank will allow us to implement the first stage of this large-scale project on time, regardless of any market changes. City of the First will be the fourth project we're going to implement using the new escrow accounts concept.

Venera Khadeyeva

Deputy CEO for production and operations management, CDS Group

CDS Novosaratovka is a project with a unique human-made environment for a full life, work, leisure, and recreation, surrounded by natural landscapes. The project is a balanced combination of residential buildings, industrial and business areas, multifunctional public spaces, and recreation areas. More than 4.5 million square meters of housing are set to be built within 20 years for 300,000 people, which can be compared to the population of Murmansk or Petrozavodsk. The project will begin with the development of an area of 56 hectares.

The first six stages of construction will cover houses with a total habitable space of about 550,000 square meters, a school for 1,375 children, and three kindergartens for 870 children, parking lots, commercial establishments on the ground floors, and even a fire station.

CDS Group has been in real estate for 21 years. One of the largest construction companies in St. Petersburg, the vertically integrated CDS Group designs, builds, sells and maintains affordable housing and surrounding infrastructure meeting its corporate standards of high quality. As many as 136 residential buildings have been built, and the total commissioned area exceeds 4.5 million square meters.