A new neighborhood is being built in the center of Grodno. But instead of modern architecture, it's built in the typical panel buildings found in residential areas.
City residents are not thrilled about the appearance of typical prefabricated apartment buildings in the city center.
Panel Buildings in the Very Center
A new neighborhood is being built in close proximity to the historical center of Grodno, where there is practically no free space left for development. Previously, there were garages and warehouses there.
The development will consist of six multi-story buildings ranging in height from 6 to 10 floors, with 570 apartments. The developer is "Grodnozhilstroy," which is known for building monotonous panel buildings.
Given the excellent location, the apartments were quickly sold at prices ranging from 2750 to 3000 rubles per square meter (approximately $900-$1000).
These are the most expensive apartments from "Grodnozhilstroy" that were on sale this year. In the Grandichi microdistrict, which is far from the center, a square meter at the same time cost from 2070 to 2550 rubles. In Vesenniy, which is located near the Pyshki forest park and the Neman River, a square meter cost 2600-2700 rubles.
The fact that a neighborhood with banal panel buildings is being built in the very center of Grodno is not to everyone's liking.
"Another Zhilstroy panel building in the colors of the rainbow. Please hire a modern designer. A quiet horror," —
wrote one of the users under a post in the NewGrodno account on Instagram.
"The project for this housing was created in the 90s of the last century!!! Such houses look creepy in residential areas. For the city center, you can build more modern housing," — adds another.
"And they are building up the city center with this... God, go visit the developer who built the house on Titova, 14. See how you can build," — another commentator is indignant.
The house on Titova, 14 is a modern seven-story monolithic house with 56 apartments. In the spring of 2020, at the construction stage, a square meter in it was sold for $980-$990. This price was almost twice as high as a meter in ordinary new buildings. Nevertheless, all apartments, including six luxurious two-story penthouses, were sold out even before the completion of construction.
Now someone is selling an apartment without renovation in this house for $129 thousand, which is $1585 per meter.
But if in the case of the house on Titova we are talking about elite real estate in the center, then the new quarter is a panel building that is especially no different from those that Grodnozhilstroy is building on the outskirts of the city.
"People in Power Live According to Soviet Standards"
Grodno local historian Mechislav Yan Supron, who has been fighting for many years to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of Grodno, calls such a development in the center terrible.
"People in power live according to Soviet standards. Every Soviet generation spoiled something in the city. There were Khrushchev buildings, then Brezhnev buildings... And if in the countries of Eastern Europe after the collapse of the USSR they switched to construction in the European style, and panel buildings ceased to be fashionable, then in Belarus the Soviet tradition of construction has been preserved.
Now, when they are building panel ten-story buildings not far from the center and writing that this will be housing with the removal of cars outside the quarter, then I just don’t understand how you can build modern housing without underground parking."
The local historian says that there is little space in the center, the land is more expensive, so more expensive housing is usually built in the central part of the cities. And in our case, ordinary high-rise buildings are being erected without the possibility of normally parking a car.
The historian is outraged by the monotonous multi-story buildings that Zhilstroy is building in the city center.
"The former landscapes are spoiled. You look at the historical center and see how those candles stick out everywhere from behind the churches. The local authorities have no concept and no understanding of how to build up the space near the center," — Supron notes.
One of the reasons why architects, among other things, do not come up with anything interesting, the historian calls training according to Soviet standards.
"Architects study according to Soviet textbooks, they are stuck in that era, so they build accordingly. The situation is a little better in Minsk, and what is now being built in regional cities is the architecture of the 1980s."
The interlocutor notes that there is now a trend in Europe for the construction of three- to five-story houses with underground parking and green areas.
In Belarus, almost everywhere they build typical multi-story buildings, and one of the problems of Grodno can be called that such residential quarters are getting closer to the city center.
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