World Trade Center Yerevan to Be Built at $470 Million Cost, With Offices, Apartments, Hotel, Shops and Restaurants

Armenia's government and its private partners have unveiled the design for World Trade Center Yerevan, a $470 million complex that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says will include the tallest building in the capital's history, rising on the site of the city's former central post office.

British architecture firm Foster + Partners presented the design at an October 12 ceremony that coincided with celebrations of Yerevan's 2,808th anniversary. Pashinyan, who attended, described the project as "the tallest building in Yerevan's history" and said developments of its kind are meant to last for centuries, according to the government's press service.

The plan calls for two skyscrapers linked by three enclosed bridges holding landscaped terraces and shared amenities. One tower would house offices; the other would hold apartments and a hotel. Lower buildings at the base would contain shops, restaurants and entertainment space arranged around a public square, the firm said.

The towers would rise to 200 meters (656 feet) and 224 meters (735 feet), according to the project's website, making the taller one more than 2½ times the height of Armenia's current tallest building. The developers have not published floor counts.

The site, at 22 Saryan Street, sits in a district that architect Alexander Tamanian master-planned in 1924 as part of his vision of Yerevan as a garden city. Foster + Partners said it would extend the central green axis of a nearby park into a route leading to the towers' podium, and that upper floors would look out toward the National Assembly, the Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theater, the Armenian Genocide Memorial and Mount Ararat.

Niall Dempsey, a senior partner at the firm, said the development was designed to be in close dialogue with Armenia's history and culture.

Hotel, financing deals signed

Two agreements were signed at the launch. Hyatt Hotels Corp. signed a management agreement for the complex's hotel, and UK Export Finance, Britain's export credit agency, signed a memorandum of understanding to explore partially financing the project.

Public statements about the launch did not include a financing amount from UK Export Finance or a target completion date.

Demolition of the former post office, the headquarters of national postal operator HayPost, has already begun.

Ownership and a rising price tag

The project company, World Trade Center Yerevan CJSC, is owned 56% by Yerevan-based developer Renshin LLC, 25% by HayPost and 19% by the Republic of Armenia. Officials describe it as the country's largest public-private partnership.

The announced cost has more than doubled since the project was approved.

When the government endorsed the plan on Sept. 7, 2023, it was reported at roughly $200 million. On April 30, 2024, Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan and Renshin General Director Eduard Marutyan signed the construction contract for a project then valued at $212 million, with about 123,000 square meters (1.3 million square feet) of floor space. At that time, private investors were to own 50%, HayPost 30.18% and the government 19.82%.

In October 2024, Colliers Project Leaders Middle East was hired to manage construction on a project it valued at about $250 million. The World Trade Centers Association's listing for the Yerevan center has since cited $300 million and roughly 150,000 square meters (1.6 million square feet).

Public statements about the October 12 launch did not explain the increase to $470 million or the shift in ownership shares.

A global brand, years in the making

The project dates to May 2022, when Pashinyan met with Robin van Puyenbroeck of the New York-based World Trade Centers Association, which licenses the World Trade Center name to developers and organizations worldwide, along with Marutyan.

World Trade Center Yerevan, led by CEO Artashes Tonoyan, already operates as an association member, hosting business lectures and panels in Yerevan on topics from investment to health care while the complex is planned.

Armenia's tallest building today is the 18-story Elite Plaza Business Center in central Yerevan, at 85 meters (279 feet). The Yerevan TV Tower is taller but is classified as a structure rather than a building.

Concerns over Kond and the skyline

The project has drawn criticism from architects who objected to demolishing the post office building and questioned how high-rise towers would affect Kond, one of Yerevan's oldest surviving neighborhoods, the Hrazdan Gorge and the city's central skyline.

Beneath Kond run two Soviet-era tunnels, each about 460 meters (1,500 feet) long, that link the post office area with the gorge. One has closed because of deterioration; the other remains a pedestrian passage. Published information about the development indicates the tunnels could be adapted for parking, raising questions about their preservation and structural integrity.

Project officials have not publicly detailed plans for the tunnels.

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