Altyn Zaman business centre in Almaty
Altyn Zaman is a nine-storey Class B business centre at the junction of Seifullin Avenue and Bogenbai Batyr Street. The building dates from 2011 and has a two-level underground car park and almost eighty organisations inside. What sets it apart is not its engineering but its tenant profile: several visa application centres for European countries and the USA operate here, and that shapes both the footfall through the building and the character of its weak points. Below is what is confirmed, where the sources disagree and what to look at during a viewing.
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Building details
- Building class: B
- Address: проспект Сейфуллина, 498
- District: Алмалинский
- City: Алматы
- Year built: 2011
- Floors: 9
- Total area: 19 600 м²
- Rentable area: 17 000 м²
- Parking: 70 мест
Available space
There are no open listings for this building right now: owners do not publish every block. We will put together options on request — send a request or browse offices in Almaty.
Offices nearby
These are office listings across Almaty, not units in this building.
- Офис на продажу 152 м2, 143 100 000 — 152 м², Бостандыкский , 143 100 000 ₸
- Помещение 400 кв.м. — 400 м², Алматы, 4 248 000 ₸
- трёхуровневый офис 590 кв.м. 3 500 000 тг — 590 м², Бостандыкский район , 3 500 000 ₸
- Офис 150 м2, 1400000 — 150 м², Бостандыкский, 1 400 000 ₸
- Офис 135 м2, 1300 000 — 135 м², Бостандыкский, 1 300 000 ₸
- Офис 90 м2 , 94500000 — 90 м², Бостандыкский, 94 500 000 ₸
Other business centres nearby
See also: the Almaty business centre directory, Nurly Tau business centre, office rent in Almaty.
What the building is
The year of construction is 2011. Here the data is reliable: the year is confirmed independently by the market descriptions, by the property’s website and by a listing for the sale of an office in the building on a third-party portal — that is, by sources unconnected with one another. The total area is 19,600 sq m and the lettable area 17,000 sq m.
The structure is known precisely, because the design was produced by a specialist practice and its description has survived: a monolithic reinforced concrete frame with monolithic shear walls, with an aluminium structural glazing façade. For a seismic region that matters: shear walls in a monolithic frame work directly on the stability of the building. Seismic resistance is stated as 9 points, but that value comes from one body of market data and has no independent confirmation.
The ceiling height is given as 3 metres in the catalogues; a listing for a specific unit of 205 sq m on the ninth floor quotes 3.1 metres. There is probably no contradiction here — one value simply relates to the building’s specification and the other to a particular unit. Beneath the building is a two-level underground car park, and the ground floor holds premises for public use.
- two-level underground car park
- monolithic reinforced concrete frame with shear walls
- aluminium structural glazing
- natural and supply-and-exhaust ventilation, local air conditioners
- round-the-clock security, video surveillance, electronic locks
- a ramp, a wide lift and an automatic door at the entrance
The dispute over the number of floors: nine or seven
For this building there is one persistent discrepancy, and it is curious because the source that ought to be the more authoritative disagrees with the majority. The market descriptions, the property’s website, a city directory and the listing for the sale of an office “on the ninth floor of nine” consistently give nine floors. The design practice that produced the project describes it on its own page as a seven-storey building with two underground levels.
We give both values and do not choose between them. The most likely explanation is that the designer’s description reflects an early stage of the project and the building as constructed turned out to be taller, or that the designer counts the levels differently. Indirect support for nine floors comes from the listing for a specific unit on the ninth floor with access to a terrace — that is hard to invent.
For a tenant the practical meaning lies elsewhere: when discussing a unit it makes sense to clarify not only the floor but how it is counted in the documents. On a top floor with a terrace and on a plant level the operating conditions are different.
Who designed it and what could not be established
The building was designed by an Almaty design company that has been in operation since 2005; its own project page is the only technical primary source on the property that we were able to read in full. The client on that page is given as the business centre itself as a legal entity, without disclosing the founders or a development company.
The developer and the management company are not found in any source. A separate trap: the city directories list at the address an organisation called “Altyn Zaman, Corporation”, registered on the ninth floor of the building. No source calls it the developer or the management company — it is a tenant whose name coincides with that of the building. We will not attribute the developer’s role to it.
Also not found: the name of the architect, the number of lifts, the presence of a backup power supply, the typical floor plate area and the years of design. The building has no environmental certificates — we checked the Kazakhstan register of BREEAM-certified buildings and the property is not in it.
Visa centres, media and logistics
According to the available data the building lists 77 organisations, and their profile is unusual for Class B. The most conspicuous group is the visa application centres: the sources name the visa centres of Spain, Slovakia, Cyprus, Germany and the USA. For a tenant this is the key fact about the building, and it should be treated as a fact rather than as a line in a description.
The second conspicuous group is media and education: the editorial office of Forbes Kazakhstan magazine on the ninth floor, the Muzzone media centre, the Kazakh Media Academy. The third is logistics and services: the freight forwarding company Falcon logistic group in office 901, a recruitment agency, a computer repair service on the second floor. The ground level houses the TomYum restaurant.
What this means in practice. A visa centre means a queue, and a predictable one at that: peak days, people with suitcases and documents, a heavier load on the lifts, the entrance and the car park in the first half of the day. If your office receives clients by appointment or requires quiet, concentrated work, come for a viewing in the morning hours of a weekday and look at the lobby with your own eyes. If, on the contrary, you need an address with high footfall and clear visitor logistics, this is rather a plus.
Parking — the main and most specific weak point
The building has two parking zones, for 20 and for 50 cars, both chargeable. The stated two-level underground car park is confirmed both by the designer and by the market descriptions, so there is no doubt that the parking exists.
The doubt concerns whether it is enough. The shortage of spaces is the most specific problem of the building: a free space has to be hunted for around the block, and it weighs enough to outweigh the other merits of the address. Separately on the tariff: a figure of around 800 tenge an hour comes up, but that is not an official price list, and it needs checking on site.
The reason is clear: almost eighty organisations, several of them visa centres with a flow of visitors, for seventy spaces. This is exactly the place where the characteristic stated in the catalogue and the real experience of a tenant diverge not because the data is inaccurate but because of arithmetic.
Strengths and weaknesses in day-to-day operation
The first impression of the building is a good one, but day-to-day operation gives a soberer picture. It therefore makes sense to examine this address not by the general feel of it but by what recurs here day after day.
Among the strengths are the politeness of the staff, the cleanliness, the TomYum restaurant and the work of individual tenants. The weak points recur and fall into four groups. The first is parking, covered above. The second is the lifts: constant failures, waits of up to ten minutes and a queue in front of the lift at peak hour. The third is the condition of the finishes and the lavatories, and things there are fairly neglected. The fourth is the conduct of the security: conflicts over parking, including brusqueness towards couriers and visitors. All four points can be checked at a viewing, and the viewing is worth arranging for the morning.
The difference between the first impression and everyday life is explained by the make-up of the flow: the visa centres bring a mass of one-off visitors who need the building for an hour, while the weak points listed above are felt by those who come here every day. It is the second scenario that should guide the choice.
Location and transport
The building fronts onto Seifullin Avenue in its central section. The nearest metro station is Almaly: the catalogues give 1.1 km and around fifteen minutes on foot, a city directory roughly a kilometre and fourteen minutes. The discrepancy is within the margin of error.
With the second station it is more complicated. For Baikonur the various estimates range from 1.3 to 2.2 km and from twenty-two to twenty-nine minutes on foot. The spread is wide, and we give the whole range. There is also a separate mention of Zhibek Zholy station a kilometre and a half away, which the other data does not confirm. The practical conclusion: there is one metro station within walking distance here, the second is questionable, and the route is worth checking in person.
Of the surroundings the sources name pharmacies, cash machines, a medical centre, cafés and restaurants, beauty salons, a park, a gym and a hotel. The building operates from nine in the morning to nine in the evening daily, which is confirmed by two independent directories.
What to clarify before signing the lease
The building is broadly a clear one, and it raises fewer questions than its neighbours in this selection. But three subjects have to be discussed without fail.
- how many parking spaces are allocated to the unit, what the tariff is and how visitor passes are issued
- at what hours and on what days the visa centres create the peak load on the lifts and the entrance
- how many lifts the building has and when they were last serviced
- whether there is a backup power supply — the sources do not mention it at all
- how the floor of your unit is counted in the documents
- who services the lavatories and the common areas, and how often
- the composition and calculation of the service charges — a sore point in its own right
Questions and answers
How many floors does the Altyn Zaman business centre have?
Nine — so state the market descriptions, the property’s website, a city directory and a listing for the sale of an office on the ninth floor. The design practice that produced the project describes it as a seven-storey building with two underground levels. We give the discrepancy as it stands; the majority of the sources and the existence of a unit on the ninth floor speak in favour of nine.
In what year was the building constructed?
In 2011. Here the data is reliable: the year is confirmed independently by the market descriptions, by the property’s website and by a listing for the sale of an office in the building — sources unconnected with one another.
Who is the developer and who manages the building?
Not established. The design practice is known — an Almaty company that has been in operation since 2005; the client on its project page is given as the business centre itself as a legal entity. The developer and the management company are named nowhere. An organisation called “Altyn Zaman, Corporation” is listed at the address, but no source links it to the construction or the management of the building — it is a tenant with a coinciding name.
Which organisations work in the building?
According to the available data, 77 organisations. The most conspicuous group is the visa application centres of Spain, Slovakia, Cyprus, Germany and the USA. The building also holds the editorial office of Forbes Kazakhstan magazine on the ninth floor, the Muzzone media centre, the Kazakh Media Academy, the freight forwarder Falcon logistic group in office 901, a recruitment agency, a computer repair service and the TomYum restaurant.
Is there enough parking in the building?
Formally the parking exists: a two-level underground car park, and according to the available data two chargeable zones for 20 and 50 cars. But the shortage of spaces is the most serious weak point of the building, to the extent that the address is sometimes turned down over the parking alone. The reason is arithmetical: almost eighty organisations and several visa centres with a flow of visitors for seventy spaces.
How can I find out available space and lease terms?
Rents for the building are not published in open sources. Send a request and we will ask for the currently vacant units and put together comparable options on Seifullin Avenue and in the Almaly district.
See also
ТОО «Nurly Tau Realty (Нурлы Тау Реалти)», БИН 171040029589, 050000, г. Алматы, Бостандыкский район, пр. Аль-Фараби, дом 15, н.п. 21г. Тел. +7 702 444 89 98, info@nurlytau.kz.