A recent trend in Moscow housing is the development of prestigious districts rather than individual elite homes.

Almost every foreign capital has its prestigious districts. London has Belgravia and Chelsea, Paris has Boulevard Lannes, and New York has Fifth Avenue. For a building wanting to be elite, location is everything. But Moscow was long an exception, as city urban planners deliberately avoided letting elite districts take shape. Until recently, elite buildings appeared here and there as old buildings were pulled down or industrial facilities moved out of the center. But now this situation is beginning to change, and developers are planning to create oases in Moscow for the Russian elite.

The first such elite oasis is on 1 Zachatyevsky Per., which runs from Ostozhenka Ul. to the Moscow River.

"Hitting the right spot for an investor means finding a place in the area between Ostozhenka, Soymonovsky Proyezd, Prechistenskaya Nab. and Korobeinikov Per.," said Alexander Dyachenko, director of Domostroi Prestizh, a department of real-estate agency Domostroi.

Almost all the buildings in this district built or reconstructed over recent years have found themselves among the select few at the top. But not all construction firms are obsessed with old Moscow. Alexei Rekut, marketing director at investment and construction company Kvartal, for example, does not think that the city center is the only attractive area for building exclusive housing.

"This isn’t London, where there’s a lot of greenery, low buildings and clean air," Rekut said. "Central Moscow is polluted and has a very diverse demographic situation. Some districts here are really marginalized."

Kvartal has taken the option of building a whole new district, Kvartal Na Leninskom, including exclusive housing on a 118 hectare area in southeastern Moscow.

An exclusive building is one built as an individual project and with much investment in design and materials. Marble and granite, Venetian plaster and lobby walls decorated with paintings by well-known artists are typical features of exclusive housing. A lot of attention goes into the design not just of the apartments themselves, but also the public areas such as the vestibules, hallways and stairwells.

"The most demand in buildings like this is for apartments of more than 150 sq. meters," said Vladimir Perfilov, project manager for 10 Maly Kakovinsky Per., a building owned by the company Logic Realty. "This kind of area gives residents the chance to have an original project and create living zones following well-known designers’ recommendations," he said.

Exclusive housing is designed for only a limited number of apartments. Much attention goes into ensuring flawless service and good infrastructure and upkeep of the surrounding territory. Olga Boroditskaya, a real-estate consultant at Noble Gibbons, said that lighting in the apartments and the view from the windows are also important. Residents are protected by the building’s own security service.

"Practice shows that most people living in elite buildings are well-known figures, and they want to protect their privacy and their peace and quiet when at home," said Irina Wright, a real-estate consultant at Kalinka Realty. "It’s important to them to have what they need at home: A garage, service people, a sauna and a beauty salon and not places that are likely to attract the public."

Kvartal’s Rekut said that underground parking is an essential attribute of exclusive housing, with space for 1.8 cars per apartment. "Since parking lots can only be of limited depth and space, the number of spaces for cars is what sets the limit for the number of apartments in the building," he said, "In our buildings, there tends to be no more than two to three apartments per floor. This is the maximum number of neighbors people who buy this kind of housing are willing to tolerate. Apartments in our buildings cost $1,700-$2,200 per sq. meter."

Realtors divide elite housing into categories. The most prestigious category is Class A, which includes buildings in the historic center of Moscow, most of them closed houses of the club type such as Agalarov House and Torris House on 1 Zachatyevsky Per., 3 Sechenovsky Per. and 5 Sytnikov Per. One of the prime examples in this category is Dom Na Plyuschikhe on 1 Truzhenikov Per. Residents of this building will have a personalized luxury infrastructure that includes everything from beauty salons and fitness centers to saunas, Turkish baths, a children’s room and a cinema. The building’s windows open onto a panorama of old Moscow, a 19th-century church stands nearby, and, in bad weather, residents can warm themselves up at the fireplace installed in each apartment.

A similar building, Park House, is going up on Kapranov Per. This building will offer future residents panoramic views, high ceilings, French windows, balconies, up to 300 sq. meters in open patio space, a swimming pool, fitness center, library and parking zone. In fact, the building will have two swimming pools, one in the first-floor fitness center, the other in the three-level penthouse on the 13th floor.

Class B buildings have more apartments than Class A buildings. They can use cheaper construction materials and infrastructure equipment. Also, they can be located throughout the central city rather than only in the most prestigious districts.

A good example in this category is the Pokrovskoye-Glebovo estate located on the banks of the Khimka River in northwest Moscow. The project combines city and country living. The developers have tried to revive the traditional Russian park and estate ensemble, creating a modern version of a late 18th-century country estate.

On average, housing in Class A buildings costs two to three times more (from $4,000 per sq. meter) than in Class B buildings.

Kvartal’s Rekut said that what is unique about the Kvartal Na Leninskom project is that it arose through the reconstruction of the old five-story apartment blocks there and has three different categories of housing in one area. It includes exclusive housing, "business-class" housing for the upper middle class and housing for the people resettled from the old five-story buildings.

"People were resettled here from Ostozhenka, Prechistenka and the streets around the old Arbat," Rekut said. "They have kept the cultural values and traditions of central Moscow. We ensure them housing in comfortable buildings, each comprising two sections: One section of business-class apartments and another section with municipal housing. The business-class component handles the district’s economy. As for the elite housing, it is located along Leninsky Prosp."

Investors say that exclusive housing costs a lot not because they want to make maximum profit from potential residents, but because these individually designed buildings simply cost a lot to build. The construction deadlines, cost of loans and investment that goes into infrastructure development, design and interiors all add up. If the investors start trying to save money, then instead of truly exclusive housing, the city would just end up with more impersonal apartment blocks.