Strelka-City — a project for developing the Nizhny Novgorod Strelka and the adjacent territory of the Nizhny Novgorod freight port with business, cultural, and sports complexes, developed between 2006 and 2008.[1] The land-use planning and subdivision project was approved by Order No. 2432-r of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Government, dated December 22, 2008; it provided for twelve complexes on 85 hectares and two phases of construction — to be completed by 2015 and by 2025, respectively.[1] The project was never realized as conceived: the cape was developed differently — with a World Cup stadium, cultural venues, and a park.[2]

Concept

The basis for the project's development was a decision of the Investment Council under the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region, dated August 2, 2006, and the minutes of the selection committee dated October 25, 2006. In December 2007 the regional government ordered the preparation of planning and subdivision documentation within the boundaries of Betancourt Street, Samarkandskaya Street, and the Oka and Volga embankments; a year later, on December 22, 2008, it approved the completed project.[1] The client was the Department of Urban Development of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and the developer was the institute "NizhegorodgrazhdanNIIproekt".[1]

The main axis of development was to be defined by a new Alexander Nevsky Boulevard running parallel to the Volga and terminating in a square with a color-music fountain. The project preserved the historic zone around Aleksandra Nevskogo Cathedral, and divided the building height into four zones, calibrating them against the cathedral's height.[1]

What was planned to be built

The first phase, to be completed by 2015, covered the strip from Alexander Nevsky Boulevard to Samarkandskaya Street.[1] It included:

  • a leisure center with a water park for 1,500 visitors and administrative and business buildings
  • a hotel complex with 500 rooms and conference halls
  • a shopping and entertainment complex with eight cinema screens
  • two business complexes accommodating 10,500 and 5,100 people respectively
  • a museum and exhibition complex, a cultural center of the peoples of Volga Region, and an Orthodox cultural center
  • multi-level parking facilities for 4,190 vehicles

The second phase on paper

The second phase, planned for 2025, included a sports complex with a floor area of one hundred thousand square meters, an ice stadium seating six thousand, and a sports hotel; a concert hall complex with a main auditorium for two thousand; and a congress hall with a library offering 2,500 reading places.[1] None of these complexes was ever built in that form.

What was actually built on Strelka

The territory set aside for the business districts was developed differently. On April 15, 2018, Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, seating 45,000 spectators and built for the FIFA World Cup, opened on Strelka; in June of the same year, Strelka Metro Station began operating.[3]

The metal frames of the pakgauzy (warehouse pavilions), manufactured in 1882 for a Moscow exhibition and transported to Nizhny Novgorod for the 1896 exhibition, were stripped of their brick cladding and adapted as a cultural venue to a design by Sergey Choban's SPEECH bureau: on 2 June 2022 a concert hall opened within them, with the inaugural concert performed by the musicAeterna orchestra under Teodor Currentzis.[4] In 2025 the pakgauzy were named among the ten most significant architectural projects in the country.[5]

For the city's 800th anniversary, the 1909 Yarmarka filtration station was restored, and in 2024 a circular stage, a port crane, playgrounds, a fountain, and replicas of Shukhov towers appeared on the promontory.[2]

The sports component of the original concept finally took shape nearly twenty years after the project was drawn up, though in a different form: in August 2026 the VOLGA Arena ice palace opened at the Strelka, covering almost 96,000 square metres with a capacity of 12,000 spectators — the largest artificial-ice facility in the Region and the home rink of the hockey club «Torpedo». The first match at the new arena is scheduled for 14 September 2026.[6]

Project Documentation

Below is the annotation to the territorial planning materials as compiled by the project's developers.

Annotation to the territorial planning materials:

"Project for the planning and land surveying of the territory within the boundaries of Betancourt Street, Samarkandskaya Street, and the embankments of the Oka and Volga rivers in the Kanavinsky District of the city of Nizhny Novgorod"

Client – Department of Urban Development of the Territory of Nizhny Novgorod Region. Design organisation – Municipal Enterprise IRG "NizhegorodgrazhdanNIIproekt"

Grounds for the development of the project:

– Order of the Government of Nizhny Novgorod Region No. 2041-r of 21.12.2007 "On the preparation of documentation for the planning and land surveying of the territory within the boundaries of Betancourt Street, Samarkandskaya Street, and the embankments of the Oka and Volga rivers in the Kanavinsky District of the city of Nizhny Novgorod";

– Decision of the Investment Council under the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region No. 125-11-173 of 02.08.2006;

– Minutes of the tender commission No. 5-Z of 25.10.2006.

The territorial planning and land surveying project was approved by Order of the Government of Nizhny Novgorod Region No. 2432-r of 22.12.2008.

The project plans the construction of 12 complexes of various functional purposes. Along the main city-wide thoroughfare — Samarkandskaya Street — three administrative and business complexes are to be located, each with two underground levels designated for car parking. The project provides for the preservation of the historic zone in the area of the Aleksandra Nevskogo Cathedral, along whose boundaries a museum and exhibition complex, a cultural centre of the peoples of the Volga Region, and an Orthodox cultural centre are planned. On the side facing the Volga river, the project envisages a sports complex, a concert hall complex, and a library complex, while on the opposite side — a leisure centre with a water park, a hotel complex with a conference hall, and a retail and entertainment complex. The project divides the territory into 4 zones, the building heights of which are coordinated with the height of the Aleksandra Nevskogo Cathedral.

The project provides for the development of the main road network. On the approaches to the Kanavinsky Bridge, an overpass is planned with an exit onto Betancourt Street. The intersection of the Samarkandskaya Street route with Sovnarkomovskaya and Dolzhanskaya streets is resolved at two levels. The main vehicular entrances to the territory are planned from Betancourt Street and Sovnarkomovskaya Street. The project provides for the creation of a new Aleksandra Nevskogo Boulevard, which will run parallel to the Volga river and form the main axis of the development area. At the terminus of the boulevard axis, a new square is being formed with a symmetrical composition, at the centre of which a colour-music fountain is planned.

The project provides for the development of the district in two phases:

The first phase of construction covers the territory from Aleksandra Nevskogo Boulevard to Samarkandskaya Street.

The first phase of construction includes: – a leisure centre with a water park; – a hotel complex with a conference hall; – a retail and entertainment complex; – two business complexes; – multi-level car parks; – a museum and exhibition complex; – a cultural centre of the peoples of the Volga Region; – an Orthodox cultural centre.

The land surveying of the territory has been carried out taking into account existing land use and new construction projects. The territorial land surveying project defines the boundaries of 28 land plots.

Technical and economic indicators for the project:

Total territory area – 85 ha; Sports complex (total area – 111,000 m²): 1) sports hotel with 700 rooms – 34,000 m²; 2) ice stadium – 6,000 grandstand seats; 3) sports halls – 4 halls for 80 persons per shift (540 m²); 4) swimming pools – 2 pools for 120 persons per shift (1,050 m²); 5) sports goods shops – 1,000 m² of retail space; 6) cafés – 4 with 50 seats each

Concert hall complex (total area – 44,500 m²): 1) main concert hall – 2,000 seats; 2) small concert halls – 2 halls of 400 seats each; 3) cafés, bars

Congress hall with library complex (total area – 59,500 m²): 1) capacity – 2,500 reading places; 2) café

Orthodox cultural centre (total area – 23,000 m²)

Cultural Center of the Peoples of the Volga Region (total area: 25,000 m²)

Phase I of construction

Leisure center with water park (total area: 150,500 m²): 1) leisure center with water park — 1,500 visitors; 2) administrative and business buildings — 60,000 m²

Hotel complex (total area: 84,000 m²): 1) hotel — 500 rooms; 2) conference halls — 2 halls seating 400; 3) gyms — 4 halls for 80 persons per shift (540 m²); 4) swimming pools — 120 persons per shift (1,050 m²); 5) restaurant — 100 seats; 6) cafes, bars

Shopping and entertainment center (total area: 70,000 m²): 1) shopping center — 25,000 m² of retail space; 2) restaurant — 100 seats; 3) cafes — 6 cafes seating 50 each; 4) cinema halls — 8 halls seating 100–200 each (2 seating 100, 4 seating 150, 2 seating 200)

Business complex (total area: 255,500 m²) for 10,500 persons

Business complex (total area: 129,500 m²) for 5,100 persons

Museum and exhibition complex (total area: 51,000 m²)

Multi-level parking facilities for 4,190 vehicles.

Sources

  1. Government of Nizhny Novgorod Region — Order of 22 December 2008, No. 2432-r, on approval of the land-use planning and subdivision project within the boundaries of Betankur Street, Samarkandskaya Street, and the embankments of the Oka and Volga rivers in the Kanavinsky District of Nizhny Novgorod (annotation to the planning materials, cited below in the article)
  2. GIPERNN — From port to park: 10 reasons not to recognize the Strelka in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  3. nn.rbc.ru — RBC Nizhny Novgorod — The stadium opened in Nizhny Novgorod (15 April 2018) (archive)
  4. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Concert hall opens in the pakgauzy warehouses at the Strelka in Nizhny Novgorod (2 June 2022) (archive)
  5. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — The Nizhny Novgorod pakgauzy warehouses named among the ten most significant projects in Russia (archive)
  6. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Three Nizhny Novgorod newspapers united their front pages for the VOLGA Arena (2 September 2026) (archive)