16.04.2018
Car places are not so distan
Who builds like that?
At the time of mass construction, the main task was to provide people with housing, so little attention was paid to parking," says Yulia Zubarik, founder of the architectural bureau Master's plan. - With time, the number of cars in the city increased and there appeared a deficit of territories - "shells" were torn down, but instead of using the liberated territory rationally, spontaneous parking appeared there. There was not enough space, lawns were turned into asphalted areas.
As a result citizens got courtyards, where more than 50% of territory was used for automobile transport needs. According to the architect, this situation can be observed even in relatively new complexes, built after 2000. "For example, in Residential Complex "Alye Parusa" practically 75% of territory are parking spaces, - she said. - Yard spaces are poorly organized at the moment, we need a comprehensive approach to the reorganization of the existing territories without affecting other functions".
As Deputy Chairman of Moscow Union of Lawyers, Alexander Tolmachev noted, in the capital there is a deficit of parking spaces not only because of the large number of cars, but also because of the lack of city authorities' articulate programs to reduce the deficit. "Today, there is still one recipe: pay for your car to be in the city," he said. - There are no programs about building vertical elevator parking lots like in Berlin or Paris. Because they are too cheap - only $300 per meter - it's not very profitable for the authorities."
Almost all experts speak about necessity of some reform or program, but with caution. "Under Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, there was a program "People's Garage", which involved the creation of a number of parking spaces within the city," recalled Alexei Zubik, commercial director of BSA. - In 2017, it was completed and, unfortunately, did not yield the desired results - there is still an acute shortage of parking spaces in the capital.
According to Elena Zemtsova, managing partner of Delta estate, today only 20-30% of cars are provided with parking spaces. This problem is especially acute in bedroom communities of Moscow region, where building development is very dense and there are almost no parking spaces, even if it is a question of new buildings. Developers, as a rule, deny the existence of such a problem. However, many experts still state that it exists.
"This problem has been a mass problem for a long time, - says the managing partner of LDD Zaur Aleskerov. - When you enter the territory adjacent to the house you actually get to chaotic parking which violates all building codes and state standards. Also in terms of compliance with fire safety rules the requirements for fire trucks passage at any time of the day in accordance with federal law № 123-fz dated 22 July 2008 "Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements" are violated.
As Tolmachev noted, the problem of yards clogged with cars is currently solved on the basis of urban planning regulations. But, as always, the law is not written for everyone. "When it comes to the old Moscow buildings without cars, we can adapt it to the new realities of automobile life only with the help of targeted city programs, - said the lawyer. - This has already been done in Europe, for which it took 10-15 years. And as for new construction and new town-planning regulations, the yards clogged with cars is a direct result of corruption".
Norms and bribes
The question of what are today's city planning standards for the creation of parking lots in the construction of new housing has stumped many experts. They often gave different answers with references to different sources. So, they called a certain federal norm - 420 parking spaces per thousand inhabitants. But at the same time it was specified that it may vary depending on the region, which have their own standards. The most stringent, of course, are in Moscow.
As explained by Zaur Aleskerov, the standards for the capital are contained in the Moscow government decree № 945-pp of December 23, 2015. According to the document, if housing is built at the expense of the budget, then one parking space is calculated for every 90 square meters. If at the expense of extrabudgetary funds, then for every 80 square meters. However, this is not all. There are a number of coefficients which adjust this norm. The calculation is very complicated. At the output, the figure will depend on the number of floors of the building, the number of so-called "daytime population" and the accessibility of public transport.
20-30% of cars are provided with parking spaces in the Moscow region, the problem is particularly acute in the bedroom communities Natalia Lvova⁄"Profile".
The class of housing is not currently taken into account by the norms, but nevertheless in practice it also matters. "For example, in a business-class house there are 2 parking spaces per apartment, and in the neighboring economy-class house there are 1.2 parking spaces: that is, 1 space for a car and two spaces for a moped and bicycle, taken as 0.1," explained Julia Zubarik. If we are talking about business class, as a rule, it is underground parking lots, which are often equipped with charging stations for electric cars, sometimes there is a guest parking. "In some cases, the developer may depart from the regulations and create a smaller number of parking spaces, - said Elena Zemtsova. - For example, if there are public transport stops, subway or railway station, as well as municipal parking near the house.
As a result, there is an opportunity to juggle numbers. "For example, a shopping center with 500 parking spaces is built nearby," said Alexander Tolmachev. - But for a shopping center, say, 400 is enough. What should a developer do when constructing a new residential building with 100 apartments? He makes an agreement with the Urban Planning and Land Commission, that the residents will be able to park in the shopping center. By doing so, he gets a construction permit without paying much money for it. The bribe for this in Moscow is about $300-500 thousand. If we had to build these parking lots under the house, it would cost $2 million.
Developers, in their turn, claim that norms are always respected strictly, otherwise authorities will not give permission for commissioning. However, this is not the case.
"The application of modern norms is not always possible both technologically and financially for the project," Aleskerov explained. - For example, in practice, when designing and constructing a residential building in the Central Administrative District, there are a number of restrictions for the developer. These are the height and lack of technological possibility of underground parking organization (communications, subway and others) and limited land plot area (where every meter affects the economy), which in turn directly affects the technical and economic parameters of the whole project.
In the center of Moscow there is almost zero possibility of parking construction, Tolmachev agrees. "Therefore, the average amount of bribes for "overcoming" the parking filter grows to $5 million," he said.
In addition, the "lack" of parking can appear at any stage of construction. "At the design stage the necessary number of parking spaces, calculated according to the standards, should be laid down by law", - said Zubarik. - Further on the organization of parking spaces is developer's business, and later on the observation of norms should be followed by housing and communal services, management company of the particular house and other local bodies. In life, violations can occur at any stage due to negligence or inattention, it is not necessarily a conscious failure to comply with the norms in the design decision".
The deputy chairman of the Government of the Leningrad region Mikhail Moskvin told "Profile" that in the Leningrad region from December last year, the calculated figure is 500 parking spaces per thousand inhabitants. In the Moscow region, everything is much more complicated. According to Aleskerov, in Moscow region specific norms of urban planning are determined and approved by local authorities, which are responsible for monitoring of compliance. Moscow region also has its RNGP (regional normative urban planning design). But the minimum of parking is much lower than in the Leningrad region - 360 spaces per thousand inhabitants, given the multi-storey building and a population of over 50 thousand people.
Burdensome parking
It should be remembered that no developer is really interested in building a parking lot. For him it is always a cost. But do they always pay off? Experts disagree on this question too.
Certainly, the most expensive are underground parking lots. As Yulia Zubarik explained, there are so-called maximum allowable values of construction cost of residential buildings. Thus, the cost of parking place in ground multi-level garage in Moscow is almost 1,4 million rubles. While in the underground, but one-level parking garage - 1.6 million rubles. If the underground parking lot has two levels, a parking space will cost almost Br2.7 million.
"The cost of one-level underground parking in Moscow when building on a vacant lot under a house is about $ 1200 per square meter, - said Alexander Tolmachev. - When building a three-level, each subsequent level increases in price by 2 times. When building the same parking in Moscow center, where the land plot is burdened with many restrictions, the cost comes up to $5000 per sq.m. This is not the limit! In Amsterdam the cost of underground parking exceeds the cost of an apartment.
"Construction work on the minus floors is associated with increased complexity for the developer, which is why the cost of construction of a square meter of the underground floor is higher than the cost of a square meter of residential floors, - explained Zemtsova. - It is worth noting that in addition to economic feasibility, a developer when choosing the type of parking is also guided by the capabilities of the area to be built. Often on limited land plots, especially in Central Administrative District, underground parking construction is simply impossible".
As Alexei Zubik noted, the cost of building each type of parking lot is often very difficult to determine. A parking space in the city center will cost much more than a similar space on the outskirts of the city, solely due to the difference in land costs. "The cheapest type is definitely surface parking, because it requires a minimum of extra cost," he said. - However, when selling an apartment in an apartment complex with no "courtyard without cars," the final price will be lower than when selling a similar apartment in an apartment complex with underground or multi-level parking.
Developers agree with such estimations, but also point out that parking lots are allegedly not demanded by the residents themselves. "Even in places with limited parking possibilities, motorists prefer to look for spaces on the street," said Alexander Rybkin, director of construction development at YIT Russia. - According to our data, after one year of residence, the demand for parking spaces in parking lots on average does not exceed 30% of the number of apartments. Accordingly, with few exceptions, parking spaces are sold slowly and at a loss for the developer. To sell the parking above the construction cost is possible only in the central parts of large Russian cities".
Imaginary profit
Elena Zemtsova also thinks that it is difficult for developers to make money on sales of parking spaces: the higher the cost, the more unsold spaces will remain after commissioning of the house. "This is why developers often reduce the price down to its cost and hold various activities to promote sales", - she said. - For example, parking space as a gift for buying an apartment, discounts of 20-30%, seasonal discounts.
However, buyers do not respond well to such actions. And for good reason. "Developers don't sell parking lots at cost price," Tolmachev believes. - If people don't want to buy a parking space in the basement for $30-40 thousand, developers artificially create difficulties for non-buying owners or sell these spaces to neighboring houses". "The main task of developers is to make a profit from the construction of each meter", - added, in her turn, Zubarik.
Zemtsova agrees that there are indeed such "not quite honest" developers who artificially create imaginary benefits for the buyer. Nevertheless, the purchase of a parking space is not the first necessity. "Therefore, many buyers of mass segment are buying parking spaces after settlement and development, when there are free funds, or free parking cars near the house, - she said. - It should be noted that developers are considering an option of buying a parking place with mortgage, but the share of such transactions is so small in total volume that it doesn't allow speaking about significant increase of sales".
Zaur Aleskerov believes that in current market conditions, when supply exceeds demand, "discounts" and parking spaces as a gift can also be offered. This happens in objects that are not too popular in order to increase their attractiveness. "In the Central Administrative District, where the problem of parking spaces is particularly acute, the profit from the sale of parking spaces can reach the level of apartment sales and higher," he said. - If we're talking about a quality project with all the necessary social infrastructure, as a rule, apartment buyers purchase parking spaces at the same time, because it affects their comfort directly.
"Except in the city center parking lots are bought up extremely unwillingly, and developers build them more out of necessity than out of a desire to earn extra money", - agrees Alexey Zubik.
According to him, they are poorly bought because of too high price, and tenants prefer to park their cars on unguarded parking lots nearby. There is a paradox: yards overgrown with cars, despite the presence of parking spaces.
"Quite a large number of parking spaces - sometimes up to half of them - in metropolitan areas of St. Petersburg and the region is empty, because the cost of parking space is often comparable to the cost of studio or even "one room", - said Mikhail Moskvin. In this regard, the authorities of the Leningrad region began to call for developers to rent parking spaces. And some, according to him, listened.
Luxury or Necessity
But despite the high cost, developers still opt for multi-level or underground parking lots. As Aleskerov explained, the decision depends on the construction volume, concept and level of the project. "If we speak about a large project (100 thousand sq.m.), as a rule, the concept provides all kinds and types of parkings in order to optimize the costs", he said. - Due to relatively strict requirements in the implementation of the project we have to take into account different variants of the territory use".
Thus, modern housing of standard class is designed on the basis of 28 square meters per person and not less than 45 square meters - in business-class apartment. Yard space inside residential buildings and neighborhoods depends on the total area of housing and should be about 40% of this value. "Taking into account this standard, for example, for one thousand people, it is easy to calculate that there is simply not enough territory to accommodate the required number of parking spaces, - the expert explained. - There is a way out. This, of course, is the construction of a multilevel or underground parking. But it inevitably leads to higher prices per square meter of sold space. At the same time the presence of underground parking increases the attractiveness and capitalization of the project and can position the project from marketing point of view at "business" level.
Type of parking and number of parking slots depend directly on the class of the object under construction and the project concept, said Elena Zemtsova. "In economy-class mass projects developers prefer above-ground parking lots because of its low cost and simplicity of organization", - she said. - In addition, buyers of budget housing, being limited in funds, are not ready to buy a parking lot at prohibitive price, which can reach 1,5-2 million rubles. That is why it is extremely difficult for the developer to sell space in the underground parking in such projects even at a price close to the production cost. And in premium projects the cost of one parking meter can be even comparable with the cost of a 2-3-room apartment in the Moscow region.
In projects of high price segment of business and premium class, an underground parking is a must. Its main advantage is that it does not interfere with the integrity of the architectural ensemble of the residential complex.
Besides the developer gets an opportunity to use the territory around him more effectively, following the concept "a yard without cars". As the result there is a recreational area with children's and sports grounds.
"If in premium objects purchasing parking place together with the apartment is a common enough phenomenon, then demand for parking places in mass segment is now significantly lower than demand for apartments in the same residential complex, - said Zemtsova. - Basically, parking spaces are purchased by buyers of apartments with many rooms. Those who buy inexpensive studios and one-bedroom apartments do not have available funds to purchase a parking space.