New Stockmann department store building faces heavy criticism in St. Petersburg

According to Finnish owners, all permits are in order

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A Stockmann department store that is being built in central St. Petersburg is facing increasing criticism. According to the critics, the building does not reflect the appearance of the neo-classical edifice that used to occupy the same site.
      “So far the new building has only evoked negative reactions in passers-by”, says Nikolai Altuhov from the Living City organisation, which has criticised the undertaking from the outset. The group organised a demostration against the project in front of the construction site on Monday.
     
The St. Petersburg residents, who are very proud of the low profile of their city that echoes the height of the Winter Palace, do not easily digest the changes that Stockmann has introduced to the site. Only now is the actual height of the structure becoming clear to the locals from behind the scaffolding surrounding the site.
      Now, a massively high additional structure is rising behind the pastel yellow image of a palace facade decorating the surrounding scaffolding.
      “We have acquired all the necessary permits for all the phases of the construction project, including the height of the building and the appearance of the new exterior”, says Jussi Kuutsa, head of development at Stockmann.
     
The facade of the building will be four stories high, but towards the back the height will be increased gradually. At the very back the department store will have nine floors above the ground. In addition there will be four subterranean floors.
      The ground floor’s tall glass windows also do not appeal to the St. Petersburg residents.
      In 2006 St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko promised that the old buildings’ exterior appearance would be kept. According to research centre Spetsprojektrestavratsija’s deputy director Mihail Miltšik, this requirement has not been met. “This is a new building that merely incorporates elements from the old design”, Miltšik commented to the Russian state newspaper Rossijskaja Gazeta.
      In St. Petersburg many recent building projects, including the planned 400-metre Gazprom skyscraper, have met with sharp opposition by the general public.
     
Stockmann's new Nevsky Centre has been dogged by problems from the start.
      The company acquired the site in 2006, but managed to get planning and building permits in order only in 2008.
      The cost estimate on the project has ballooned from EUR 120 million to EUR 185 million.
      The store is scheduled to open its doors to customers in November.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Stockmann´s department store in Moscow´s Smolensky Passage closed until further notice (15.5.2008)
  Building officials in St. Petersburg accuse Stockmann of violations (2.2.2007)

Links:
  Stockmann Nevsky Centre

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