It is better to have a nation-wide platform, rather than a lot of local ones

Next week PROEstate exhibition will start in Moscow, which had taken place in St. Petersburg for many years. “Construction Weekly” has asked its readers a question: "Does Petersburg need its own exhibition dedicated to investing in real estate?"

Olga Ponomareva, Vice-president at Leorsa Group, Eightedges business center developer
The fact that the exhibition has moved to Moscow is a logical phenomenon. Taking into account the fact that PROEstate is primarily the real-estate forum for the industry representatives, it is rational to allocate it in the capital city, which may be attended by representatives from different regions of our country.

Boris Moshensky, Managing Director at  Maris in association with CBRE
PROEstate had been actively developing for the first two years in St. Petersburg: however, subsequent exhibitions have lost their exclusivity and uniqueness. Probably their concept should have been reconsidered. I do not know the exact reasons why another city has been chosen for the exhibition, maybe it is due to the fact that Moscow has more exhibitors. It is a pity that there are just few major events in St. Petersburg, but on the other hand new happenings have appeared – for example, the events, organized by Managers and Developers Guild, exhibitions dedicated to residential real-estate, roundtable discussions, supported by mass media.

Arseniy Vasiliev, Managing Director at Unisto Petrostal
Main exhibition venues in Russia are mainly concentrated in Moscow, where the related infrastructure is developed at a higher level. St. Petersburg is not yet ready to host large-scale investment exhibitions, although a positive trend in this sphere can be noticed.

Natalia Goncharova, Marketing Director at ASTERA, alliance member of BNP
We are extremely saddened by the absence of a major event dedicated to commercial real estate in Petersburg. In 2014 the city lost the last significant regional platform in this market segment – CRE Summit. I believe that St. Petersburg should have local business event, which will be of interest for local developers, government representatives, investors, architects, consultants, and business representatives from other regions and countries interested in different projects’ development in the northern capital. However, at the moment strong and authoritative organizers, who could potentially conduct such event on regular basis, are not interested in this format. I do not see the perspectives of conducting of events of federal level in Saint-Petersburg, dedicated to commercial real-estate. Moscow has always been the most appropriate venue for exhibitions and conferences of such format.

Andrey Boykov, Partner at Rusland SP Group
From the economic efficiency view-point and taking into account a greater target audience, it is more profitable to host such exhibitions in Moscow. Conducting such events in the capital city give them a more important status and audience coverage comparing to St. Petersburg.

Olga Sharygina, Head of Asset management department at NAI Becar
Currently, the main business activity is concentrated in Moscow. Petersburg market is ready for local investment fair; however, another question is whether it is needed in such scale. In my opinion, the best option would be the alternation of St. Petersburg and Moscow as the main venues of the exhibition.

Andrey Kosarev, Managing Director at Colliers International in Saint-Petersburg
PROEstate may well come back. Frankly speaking, the St. Petersburg market is not so big for the large-scale investment exhibitions to be a success. However, as the nation-wide platform it (as in the early years of PROEstate) may well be in demand. We need political will, organizational efforts and proper marketing. I hope, soon Petersburg will receive such venue and will be able to carry out regular activities of federal scale.

Andrey Tetysh, chairman of board of directors at ARIN
To my mind, the thesis that such an exhibition is needed in St. Petersburg is not obvious. It is better to have a good, reliable nation-wide platform, rather than a lot of local ones.