Yasenevo is the most populous of Moscow’s neighbourhoods, and one of the most crowded – some 162, 687 people live in the area, and population density is 25,000 per square kilometre. Such famous figures as singer Zhanna Aguzarova and football player Sergei Ignashevich hail from Yasenevo, and the headquarters of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Services are also located here.

In 1999, neighbourhood authorities started re-designing Yasenevo’s yards, bestowing upon them new names and themes. In 2003, for example, a “Russian fairytale” yard and “World of fairytales” micro-district were created at Proyezd Odoyevskogo. Other highlights include “Kitaisky Dvorik” (“Little Chinese Yard”) and micro-district “This diverse world”. All such yards include colourful playgrounds which are decorated in accordance with their individual themes.

Less industry, more green zones

Yasenevo is not an exceptionally large neighbourhood, but it boasts three parks – Uzskoye Estate and Park, Bittsevsky Forest and Butovsky Park.

Residents say that it’s the parks that make the neighbourhood particularly attractive. “Muscovites from other districts come to Bittsevsky and Yuzskoye to have fun,” Natalia Ankina, 43, told The Moscow News.

Bittsevsky does have an unfortunate chapter in its history, due to the fact that a serial killer, Alexander Pichushkin, once stalked the area. Pichushkin, nicknamed “the Bittsevsky maniac” by the media, was convicted in 2007 and received a life sentence.

Infrastructure: the good and the bad

Situated as it is on the outskirts, Yasenevo has very few genuinely good restaurants and cafés.

Residents say that one of the few restaurants worth a visit is Avignon Restaurant at Litovsky Bulvar – the place has decent European cuisine and the prices don’t bite. Avignon’s spacious dining halls regularly serve as a place for local banquets and parties.

In order to stay fit, Yasenevo residents prefer to go to Yasenevo swimming pool in Ulitsa Vilniusskaya.

Ladies tend to recommend two beauty salons – Leon and Mirador, both located at Novoyasenevsky Prospekt. And for grocery shopping, Perekryostok and Sedmoy Continent chain stores are conveniently located at Ulitsa Golubinskaya and Ulitsa Rokotova respectively.

Both local residents and residents of neighbouring districts flock to Stock-Center at Ulitsa Paustovskogo, which is said to have a great selection of clothes, shoes and accessories at very affordable prices.

The Russian Academy of Sciences has a good hospital in Yasenevo, providing residents with a wide range of medical services. The hospital is located at Litovsky Bulvar. Dental needs can be attended to at popular Novodenta clinic at Ulitsa Aivazovskogo.

Cinema lovers don’t have to travel far to see a film – a very large movie theatre, Khanoi, is conveniently located at Litovsky Bulvar.

Yasenevo has 27 public schools and 31 kindergartens, and wealthier families have the choice of two private schools – Britanskaya Mezhdunarodnaya School at Ulitsa Armanda Innessy and Renaissance School at Ulitsa Aivazovskogo.

Getting in and out of Yasenevo and avoiding traffic jams in the process is made easier by two metro statations – Yasenevo and Novoyasenevskaya (formerly Bittsevsky Park). The Moscow Ring Road, meanwhile, runs in the southwest of the neighbourhood.

Cosy real estate prospects

According to Anna Levitova, executive partner at Evans Property, Yasenevo used to be a neighbourhood where most of the scientists from various research institutes and centres were granted housing by the Soviet state.

“Now, Yasenevo is a cosy ‘sleeping district’ in Moscow, with many positive aspects – a well planned area with a developed infrastructure and a lot of green recreational areas, good quality housing and high living standards, good transport accessibility and lack of industrial enterprises,” said Anna Levotova.

Yasenevo is located in the southwest of Moscow, an area that, on the whole, is growing more prestigious. People aged 34 to 65 years old – businessmen, CEOs and executives with families – tend to buy property here.

The average price per a square metre is 127,000 rubles ($ 4,200) in Yasenevo.

“Rental prices for apartments in this area start at 25,000 ($827) rubles for a one-bedroom apartment, ranging from 33,000 rubles ($1,091) for a two-bedroom place and 40,000 ($1,323) for an apartment with three bedrooms,” Levitova said.

The apartment question

Sergei Kharlampovich, 62, works in the media industry and has lived in his own apartment at Yasenevo’s Ulitsa Golubinskaya for over a decade.

Sergei likes his neighbourhood, but believes it is located way too far from the city centre. “I like that it’s spacious... it’s very easy to breathe there,” he told The Moscow News.

“We don’t really know our neighbours, I only contact them when there is a need for it,” Sergei said.

He said that there are hardly any good restaurants or cafés in Yasenevo – “but [I don’t] really go to such places anyway.”

Sergei mentioned that Bittsevsky Forest is the place to go for recreation and leisure, but that one should go there only during daytime. “You should go there in the evening. Why not? You might run into a new maniac,” he joked, referring to the story of the infamous Bittsevsky Forest serial killer who was apprehended in 2006.

Sergei’s street used to be very quiet, but now there are a lot of traffic jams and every driver uses a car horn – “this makes a lot of noise.”

When asked what advice he would give to a newcomer to Yasenevo, Sergei said that it would be best to “try to find an apartment overlooking a yard, rather than a street”.

Source: The Moscow News