Giant Residential District Rising Near Yekaterinburg Station

Over ten years, the giant industrial zone near Yekaterinburg«s railway station will transform into a new residential district with new roads, pedestrian boulevards, and recreation zones. The most extensive construction will take place on the site of the »Freight Yard« (Tovarny Dvor). Of the railway station, only hangars, wooden warehouses, and rails occasionally visible from under the snow now remain.

A journalist and photographer from E1.RU visited the territory of the future construction site. We tell you what is happening there now and what plans the developers have for the coming years.

Back in 2021, Sinara-Development won a 17-hectare plot from Russian Railways at an auction, paying 3.8 billion rubles (about $42 million) for it. A lot of time was spent on legal registration of land rights, and only in 2025 did the developer announce what would appear here.

The total development area on this territory is much larger. According to the project, already approved by the city hall, three residential quarters, new schools, kindergartens, and a road network will appear here.

The plot along Strelochnikov Street on the site of the «Strela» trading base will be developed by Atlas Development. The largest plot marked on the diagram, within the boundaries of Chelyuskintsev, Bering, and Geroyev Rossii streets, is the former freight terminal of the Yekaterinburg-Tovarny station. As Sinara-Development told E1.RU, the giant territory will be developed with a partner — the company «Malysheva, 73».

«We understood from the start that implementing such a large project alone would be quite difficult. With «Malysheva, 73» we have good relations, so we formed a position of joint implementation of the project. Here you can clearly see that the drawn [area] is our territory, and above is that of our partners. Between them there will be a pedestrian zone in the form of a boulevard, cafes, shops,» explains Yuri Starkov, commercial director of Sinara-Development, showing renderings of the future quarter.

The company named its project «Quiet Center». The partners will have a different name and different style. They will be united by common recreation areas, a pedestrian boulevard, and social infrastructure. In particular, the companies will design and build a new section of Geroyev Rossii Street at their own expense, which will connect this location with Zarechny.

«We will implement the project in stages, along with the development of the district, and by the end of the first phases of the residential complex we will begin construction of the road. I think that in the next five years everything should be resolved and construction work should be completed. We are also very interested in having transport accessibility, because it is a certain bonus for both housing and the cost of housing,» says Yuri Starkov.

The final cost of the future road will become clear after the project is prepared and undergoes expert review, but these expenses have already been included in the final estimate. The entire «Quiet Center» will cost the developer several tens of billions of rubles (hundreds of millions of dollars at current rates).

«According to our forecasts, investments in the first two stages will amount to about 8 billion rubles (about $89 million at current rates). If we consider a ten-year period, we are currently focusing on 50 billion rubles (about $556 million). If there are no sharp jumps, including an increase in construction costs, then we will stay within these figures. If costs rise for some objective reasons, naturally the amount of investment will increase. The increased value-added tax (VAT) from this year we have already included in the estimate,» says the commercial director of Sinara-Development.

The «Freight Yard» will be developed over ten years. The entire project is divided into five stages; in addition to housing, kindergartens and a school will appear here.

«The project includes a built-in attached kindergarten for 50 children, which will be in the fifth phase of construction. Also, the construction of a pre-school institution and a school is planned; we and our partners are starting to design these facilities, then we transfer them to the city, and the administration will determine the construction timelines. But in any case, I hope that this matter will not be put on the back burner, because the issue is very relevant for the development of the district,» adds Yuri Starkov.

Work is already in full swing on the site. Construction began from the side of Chelyuskintsev Street to go inward so that residents of the first houses could move in without problems, and ongoing construction would create minimal inconvenience. The first phase of the residential complex is divided into two stages—three sections in the first and four in the second.

«We entered the construction site in November last year. Currently, we are ahead of schedule for certain types of work. Regarding the excavation, earthworks are 90% complete, and monolithic work is already underway on the first and second sections. The first launch phase will amount to approximately 57,000 square meters: this includes housing, parking, storage rooms, and commercial premises,» says a representative of the developer.

The first-phase houses are comfort-class, but the next ones will be of the «business» category: more comfortable, more expensive, and with fewer floors. The project also includes a separate building for a fitness club.

Currently, in the first-phase houses, the cost per square meter is a little over 200,000 rubles (about $2,200), but in the future, prices will rise by about 20%. However, the three developers will have to win over their buyers.

«This site and location are to a certain extent the heart of our city. I am confident that the district will become one of the best and turn into a true landmark. Our project is called «Quiet Center» not because silence and boredom reign here, but due to its unique location almost in the very center, yet away from the hustle and bustle, providing comfortable living conditions,» believes Yuri Starkov.

Although the territory for development is giant, there have been no difficulties with its preparation. There are not many old capital construction objects here, and they can all be dismantled without problems.

«We work in stages; for the first and second stages, dismantling has been fully completed. We did not encounter any particular difficulties here. The only additional option on this territory is the dismantling of railway tracks. We conclude a contract via tender with a company that dismantles everything, and under this contract they recycle part of the raw materials—they send them for recycling, so nothing is lost. For the first stages, about 700 meters of railway tracks have already been dismantled,» adds the company«s commercial director.

A bridge that goes over the railway tracks will also be dismantled. Previously, trains passed under it, but now it rather poses a danger. The height differences here are not so large.

«We are currently maintaining this bridge, cleaning it, but according to the concept, of course, we will remove it,» says Yuri Starkov.

And finally, a few more shots from the site where work is already in full swing.

A couple of years ago, we evaluated the Vokzalny microdistrict in our rating, and it showed not the best result, but now everything will change dramatically. See the full list of best and worst locations at the link, and all reviews are collected in a special section.

Earlier, the general director of Atlas Development called the neighboring Zavokzalny microdistrict one of the most promising in the city. For the sake of its project, the company recently won a plot at auction for renovation—there it will be necessary to resettle and demolish two houses, but only a kindergarten can be built in their place.