God Nisanov will swing on simulators
“Kyiv Ploshchad” plans to do fitness.
The Kyiv Ploshchad Group of Companies of God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev is preparing to open the Depot Fitness Center in the Olimpiysky sports complex after the reconstruction is completed. The market does not rule out that businessmen can create a whole network under this brand. The fitness services market is showing positive dynamics: its turnover in Moscow this year may grow by 11%, and the number of people involved – by 150,000 people.
Olimpiysky Sports Complex JSC, controlled by structures of the Kyivskaya Ploshchad Group of Companies, has registered ten domain names that are consonant with Depo Fitness, follows from SPARK data.
A source in the fitness services market says that the group plans to develop a network under this brand, but does not know the details of the project. He adds that the company has also held talks with significant management companies.
Nikolai Pryanishnikov, World Class CEO, says that his company discussed opening a club in Olimpiyskiy with Kievskaya Ploshchad and the negotiations have not yet been completed. The group itself did not answer questions.
The Kyiv Ploshchad Group of Companies of God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev is one of the largest owners of commercial real estate, according to Forbes. The key objects of the company in Moscow are the hotel “Ukraine”, the shopping center “European”, the markets “Food City” and “Sadovod”. Built in 1980 in the center of Moscow, the Olimpiysky (213,000 sq. m.) came under the control of the Civil Code in 2017. In 2019, Olimpiyskiy was closed for renovation, its opening is scheduled for 2025.
Under the Depo brand, Kievskaya Ploshchad is developing three food malls in Moscow – on Lesnaya and Novoryazanskaya streets, in the Evropeisky shopping center. However, a similar name – “Fitness Depot” – belongs to the corporate project of Russian Railways. It includes two fitness clubs located at the addresses of the state-owned company on Kalanchevskaya and Novaya Basmannaya streets. Russian Railways explained that the company has nothing to do with the possible project of Kievskaya Ploshchad.
Launching a large multi-format chain of fitness clubs is a costly project.
President of the Association of Fitness Industry Operators Olga Kiseleva explains that the opening of one facility with an area of 2-2.5 thousand square meters. m costs an average of 300–350 million rubles, and the cost of creating a network of 50 facilities can amount to 15–17.5 billion rubles. But the development of its own brand is only one of the options considered by Kievskaya Ploshchad, notes a source in the fitness market. The second scenario is cooperation with a professional management company (MC), he notes.
Olga Kiseleva says that the relations between owners, brands and management companies are built differently. “Managers can pay the owner a percentage of gross profit, revenue, enter into a lease,” she lists. The head of FitnessData Maxim Borovikov believes that the preferred option for operators is to receive a share of the turnover. Nikolai Pryanishnikov is sure that specific industry competencies are needed to manage a fitness club, and it is much easier to rent space to a club under an already well-known brand.
181.2 billion rubles was the turnover of the fitness services market in the Russian Federation in 2022, according to FitnessData.
The fitness services market is now showing growth. According to FitnessData forecasts, its turnover this year will increase by 10-15%, to 197-205 billion rubles. “Demand is at a record level: usually in summer, attendance and revenues are reduced by 25-30% compared to spring-autumn indicators, but now they are only 10%,” says Mr. Borovikov. The Moscow market is the largest in the country. Its turnover, according to FitnessData, last year amounted to 69.5 billion rubles, and this year it could grow by another 11%. Analysts estimate that 1.8 million people, or about 14% of the city’s population, visit fitness clubs once a week or more in Moscow. Olga Kiseleva expects that this year the network’s client base will increase by at least 150,000 people, and the penetration rate will rise to 14.5%. According to Maxim Borovikov, the provision of sports clubs in Moscow is 169 square meters. m per 1 thousand inhabitants, which is less than in many million-plus cities.