Online retailer Ozon is preparing to sign the largest deal in the history of the Russian stock market: the company leases 155 thousand square meters in the suburban complex “Landmark West”. The company broke its previous record a year ago, while Internet seller took more than 100 thousand sq m in another object of the developer. In ozone say they would like to develop logistic capacity even faster, but growth hinders the lack of supply of quality supply on the warehouse market.Development company “Landmark” Elena Bondarchuk and online retailer Ozon (largest shareholders are AFK “System” and Baring) agreed on the lease of 155 thousand square meters in the warehouse complex “Landmark West” in Istra situated near Moscow, know two sources of “Kommersant” in the real estate market. The companies and their consultant CBRE have become neither confirm nor deny the fact of negotiations.It will be the largest transaction for all history of the Russian warehouse market. Director of Department of warehouse real estate at Colliers International Anton Repin, estimates the cost of rent Ozon space in the “Landmark West” at 650-700 million rubles per year excluding operating costs and VAT. A year ago, the retailer has also become the largest player in the rental market of warehouse real estate: the company has removed more than 100 thousand square meters in the complex “Landmark North” (see table).Source: Colliers International.”Landmark West” is located in 35 km from MKAD in the North-West suburbs. The complex is built on more than 100 hectares and the storage area is 450 thousand square meters of real estate Development company “Landmark” announced the launch of the project in 2019, the project cost was then estimated at almost 33 billion roubles It will be one of the largest logistics parks in Russia. The record is owned by square complex “North Domodedovo” company Mikhail Gutseriev MLP — it is planned to implement 850 thousand square meters of warehouse space.Ozon in the current semester has already had a large warehouse transactions: in June the company announced the lease of PNK Group 67 thousand sq m in Novosibirsk. In the beginning of 2020 online retailer rented in Saint-Petersburg warehouse with an area of 29 thousand square meters in the company “marvel-logistics”. Such expansion, according to the report, the ozone operating activities was appropriate for the retailer: at the end of the first quarter, the company reported revenue growth of 115% to 31.6 billion rubles, the Director of investment and infrastructure development Ozon Stepan Gusamov said “Kommersant” that the online trading market could develop faster, but the company is holding back including a limited supply of warehouse space. According to him, in 2019, the ozone doubled the size of their warehouses, and in the next two to three years plans to invest in fulfillment centers more than $300 million that will go to the expansion areas, and the improvement of IT systems for warehouse management.The warehousing segment PErenoit consequences of a pandemic COVID-19 better than other commercial real estate sectors. According to Knight Frank, in the first half of the level of jobs in the logistics parks in the Moscow region decreased from 2.7% (the rate at the end of 2019) to 2.3%. Until the end of 2020, the market can remain only 2.1% of available space. At the same time, the pace of construction of new warehouses is reduced: by the end of 2020 the total input volume of quality warehouse real estate will be about 700 thousand sqm, which is 30% lower than in 2019.According to senior Director of CBRE Anton Alyabiev, the coronavirus has spurred the development of online logistics, but in the future the segment will continue to evolve. According to CBRE, in the first half of 2020 the average area of the warehouse transactions amounted to 10-12 thousand sq. m. the Biggest online retailers, the company notes, interested in and built-to-suit and speculative warehouses, including due to the low amount of available supply in the market.Elizaveta Makarova
