Moscow's half-empty $12 billion financial district looks worse than you imagined

BI ^ | 3 Mar 14 | Christian Storm and Elena Holodny

[elhombrelibre]

Moscow's financial district, with its $12 billion worth of skyscrapers, was meant to be a gleaming beacon for Russia's post-Soviet market economy.

But now with Russia's economy in free-fall, the Moscow City complex property values have nosedived, construction sites are abandoned, and vacancy rates have soared to 45%, according to real estate consultants Blackwood.

[elhombrelibre]

Great photos. President for life Putin's doing swell job now that he's given up on letting Russia be a normal state.

http://www.businessinsider.com/moscows-empty-financial-district-photos-2015-3#conceived-in-1992-the-moscow-international-business-center-was-meant-to-rival-manhattan-or-london-1

[Blood of Tyrants]

Moscow is Obama’s model for the US.

[SamAdams76]

Looks like they could film a season of “The Walking Dead” there.

[Timber Rattler]

Looks like downtown Chicago to me.

[SamAdams76]

By the way, whatever happened to the Putin fans that used to populate the Free Republic.

You know the ones, the ones who would photoshop Putin's naked upper body onto a horse and marvel about what a "man" he is and how lucky Russia was to have him. That photo would often be juxtaposed with a limp wristed American politician riding a bicycle or trying to throw a baseball.

[econjack]

You just can't paste a free market face on a Communistic system when the legal system and infrastructure isn't there.

[peteyd]

Can’t we just move the AFL-CIO,Democrat headquarters,AARP ,and all the other unions over there?

[DJ MacWoW]

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[ConservativeDude]

Wait....you mean government debt fueled construction won’t stimulate a communist economy into modernity and prosperity?

[SandRat]

Trying to rival DETROIT?

[Logical me]

Putin is destroying Russia. And like America same thing King Obama is doing. Most Americans are on credit cards and are so far in debt they can never recover. Putin doesn't give a shit about his people and his people, like Americans, had no idea what is happening. Putin is surviving by convincing America has destroying Russia.

[Little Pig]

A bit misleading. You won’t see comparatively all that much foot traffic in far-downtown Manhattan either. I am also completely unsurprised to see no one walking around outside in a Russian winter (note the snow in the pic).

[elhombrelibre]

Putin's got a terrible physique. He's got the flabbiness and man boobs that are best hidden.

[elhombrelibre]

If he gets his way, he’ll imitate Putin’s authoritarian style.

[Army Air Corps]

Throw in the UN headquarters for good measure.

[elhombrelibre]

Really. How long has it been since you're been to Chicago? It's vibrant with great restaurants and great high rises. The streets bustle with people commuting to work. I could accept the idea that there are run down neighborhoods. That's for sure.

[econjack]

When I was in grad school, one of my profs spent a year in Russia teaching capitalism. He got to know the man in charge of all rail distribution in Russia. He was coming up to the end of a Five Year Plan (later changed to 7 years ‘cuz they were always short) and was almost a million metric ton/miles short of his quota. Knowing that missing your quota meant an all expense paid vacation to Siberia, he loaded up a train with almost 50 gondola cars filled with rocks and ran it almost nonstop between Moscow and Vladivostok for 8 months. He was given a commendation for exceeding his quota. Sounds like something Obozo would do...

[elhombrelibre]

You’re kidding, right? You think people don’t go outside when there is snow in Moscow?

[ryan71]

They need a war, bad. And the West will be happy to acquiesce, hiding it's own house of fiat cards.

[elhombrelibre]

They're fighting an undeclared war now against a peaceful neighbor. That's part of their current problem. They've only Putin and their own gullibility to blame for the consequences of the chauvinist and revanchist policies of Putin. It's like his most expensive ever Olympics in Sochi. It was all for naught besides the cronies.