Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 1037 - 918: Having Enough Prestige

Chapter 1037: Chapter 918: Having Enough Prestige

Since Wang Ye dared to bring up the proposal for discussion at the committee, he naturally had made meticulous preparations.

From the selection of the site to the progression of the proposal and the possible issues that might arise, he had thoroughly deliberated over them.

The circle that he drew on the map was indeed in a great location, just across the river from the Kremlin, and the straight-line distance was only about three kilometers.

Most of the area was covered by forests and did not have many buildings, and those that were scattered throughout were mostly government department offices or residential areas for family members, making them relatively easy to demolish.

The total area was four square kilometers, not very large, but it was enough.

Some might think that the CBD area Wang Ye planned was too small, too conservative!

However, it is important to note that when looking at CBD areas in major cities worldwide, they are actually not large, and their core areas even adhere to the so-called "One Square Mile Rule."

Simply put, all mature CBDs have a core area of at most one square mile, which is the true "essence"!

Beyond that core, the rest is mostly supportive buildings and not very important.

World-class CBDs in the most central square mile gather the densest wealth capital and top talents, holding the vital veins of urban development and even the global economy.

The core area of London Financial City is approximately two square kilometers, with daily foreign exchange transactions constituting about 48% of the worldwide total; Manhattan Wall Street is less than one square mile, yet it controls 40% of the world’s finance; Xiangjiang Central CBD is just over one square mile, but it is the center of international finance and trade!

These major cities are all long-established global metropolises, each with its irreplaceable locational advantages.

And while Moscow is also a world-class city, from a business development perspective, it just cannot compare to those cities.

Therefore, when Wang Ye planned the CBD, he initially intended to develop an area of about one square kilometer only, concentrating all funds and resources to create an "elite district"!

Of course, even if he wanted a larger area, he didn’t have that much money and resources anyway...

Moreover, Wang Ye’s planning included a bit of his own "cunning."

Once the region was designated as the Moscow CBD, it would naturally become the most prime location in Moscow city, without a rival!

In the future, this place will gather the biggest and most powerful companies from all over Russia and even from the whole of Eastern Europe, as well as top hotels, restaurants, and shopping centers.

Of course, it will also include the highest-end residential apartments.

In the early stages, Wang Ye attracted major companies to invest a great deal of money to build this CBD area by relying on "face value," which certainly proved how influential Wang Ye was!

Perhaps nationwide, only he had the allure and influence to get so many heavy-hitter companies to willingly follow his lead.

But Wang Ye couldn’t rely solely on his "face" to get these companies to contribute selflessly. After doing so many times, his influence might wane...

Therefore, he also needed to provide substantial returns to these companies.

At a minimum, he had to let everyone know that if they followed him and complied with the policies he drafted, they would get a slice of the cake!

So, what was the return?

It was the three thousand square meters of undeveloped land within the CBD area!

Wang Ye would allocate this part of the region to the major participating companies, whether they wanted to build office buildings for rent, construct high-end apartments for sale, or whatever else they wished to do.

Once the land price in this area increased, it was no exaggeration to say that those plots would be worth a fortune!

That would certainly justify the costs the companies incurred during the early stages of the CBD construction.

Of course, the land allocation was not distributed equally but depended on the "sincerity" that the companies showed in the initial phase.

For instance, Facebook Inc planned to spend five hundred million US dollars to build a skyscraper over three hundred meters tall.

Then in the remaining three square kilometers of the CBD, a fifty-thousand-square-meter plot of land would be sold (practically given) to Facebook Inc at an incredibly low price, allowing it to benefit from selling high-end residential real estate or to distribute it to employees as company amenities.

The Russian Gas Industry Group, on the other hand, was putting in two billion US dollars to create a plaza with three or four super buildings!

So when it was time to share the "cake," the Russian Gas Industry Group would naturally get a much larger piece.

Perhaps they would be granted two hundred and thirty thousand square meters of land, practically at half sale and half giveaway prices, for them to plan and develop whatever project they wanted, which was likely to be high-class residential areas...

Bear in mind, housing prices in Moscow were not low. The apartment where Wang Ye lived next to the school four years ago cost two to three thousand US dollars per square meter!

By 2005, commodity house prices in most areas of Moscow had exceeded two thousand US dollars, and in good locations with good quality, the price was about four thousand US dollars or more, not to mention luxury houses in the city center, which were priceless!

So, when the CBD got underway, occupying the best locations in the city with the best-quality high-rise apartments, how much would the price be per square meter?

Perhaps just by selling high-end residences, these companies could recoup the investment they made in building their headquarters!

......

Seeing Wang Ye’s confidence and his readiness to convene a meeting with major domestic companies, it was as if Wang Ye himself assumed the most challenging task. What more could the committee members say? They certainly wouldn’t object.