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Moscow's Manhattan sprouting upwards

Other News Materials 7 October 2007 12:08 (UTC +04:00)

( RT ) - A city within a city, the so-called Russian Manhattan, is still under construction, but its main attraction, the Federation Tower, has already appeared on the architectural map of the Moscow city.

It's destined to be the tallest building in Europe, rising 354 metres high. And from November of this year, all visitors will have a chance to enjoy the breathtaking views from its top.

The entire complex actually comprises two towers. The smaller one is almost finished, but the taller sister is yet to be built.

Desire for high-rise architecture is not a recent trend in Moscow. When it comes to tall buildings, the Russian capital is best known for the giants of the Soviet era. The Federation Tower is meant to change the city's skyline.

The area of a new district in the heart of Moscow is a huge building site now. About 40 skyscrapers are planned to be built there.

Managers of the building company have already launched an active campaign promoting the site. The French 'spiderman' Alain Robert set the media abuzz when he reached the top of the 60-storey sky-scraper without permission from the city authorities. He was later taken away by police, but onlookers say it seemed to be just a part of the game.

Whatever the PR methods, the tower certainly got the attention.

Meantime, the managers of the building company say they don't want it to be just a very tall building, they'd like to see it as a destination within itself.

Estate agents were asking $US 10 MLN for an apartment and the apartments are already sold out.

"The twelve top floors of this tower are designed to be residential apartments. The rest of the floors will be used as offices. The cost for a square metre here reaches about $US 30,000. But the apartments have long since been sold out," Artur Aleksandrov, top manager of Mirax Group, commented.

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