MOSCOW, February 29 - RAPSI, Sergei Feklyunin. The Moscow Commercial Court put off until April 24 the hearing of the Moscow Property Management Department's lawsuit to cancel the Europe Squares ownership of floor space in in the Evropeisky Trade Center in central Moscow, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.ru) reported from the court on Wednesday.

The court satisfied the plaintiff's request to postpone the hearing due to the ongoing negotiations on the dispute settlement. The request was also backed by the defendant. In late January the department also requested to postpone the hearings reporting that the negotiations are at the final stage.

The Moscow Property Management Department earlier said that although it had no share in the Evropeisky Trade Center by law, it has the right to a part of the center under the investment contract. According to the department, the125,900 square meter area is owned by the Kiev Square company and the 53,900 square meters of floor space belong to the Europe Square.

In its lawsuit filed with the Moscow Commercial Court, the department sought to annul the registration of the ownership rights to the trade center by the Europe Square and the Kiev Square (Kievskaya Ploshchad) companies.

Earlier the department said that the parties were to receive property in the trade center in accordance with the act on the investment project fulfillment. But the act was not signed by the Moscow government, which is a party to the contract.

Meanwhile, the Moscow Property Department (owns 30 percent in trade center) and the Kiev Square (owns 70 percent) are the shareholders of the Europe Square, which actually owns 53,900 square meters. The department stated though that no specific area was allocated to the city.

At the same time, the investment contract on the construction of the trade center stipulated that some 30 percent of the constructed building will belong to the capital.

According to the report, the Evropeisky Trade Center's total area is 179,900 square meters, which exceeds its initial floor space by 102,900 square meters. Thus, the Moscow government believes that it is entitled to any trade space that was additionally built as part of its investment project.