The authorities have revised plans to eliminate unfinished construction

The Orenburg administration has decided to resume construction of the Atrium trade and administrative complex in the city center, which was frozen several years ago. Previously, the facility, located 50 meters from the city hall and at the initial stage of construction, was planned to be liquidated, allocating 20 million rubles of budget money for this. However, according to the mayor's office, there were investors ready to invest in long-term construction. According to experts, the project can be profitable, primarily due to its location. The Orenburg administration has decided to continue construction of the Atrium trade and administrative complex in the city center. Its construction on Sovetskaya Street began in July 2002. At first, the construction of the complex was carried out by a number of Turkish companies, which were replaced by the local LLC “List” in 2003, and a little later by “Social Initiative”. The project of the complex provides for the presence of five underground floors, including parking, a network of restaurants and other entertainment venues, as well as large retail areas for boutiques. Its total project area is 23 thousand square meters. m. Ordinary citizens became forced co-investors in the project, donating 170 million rubles to the Social Initiative (representatives of the company assured the townspeople that the money would be used for the construction of two residential buildings - Kommersant), and another 70 million rubles were invested in the Atrium by local entrepreneurs . Money for the construction of the complex was transferred through Ural Metals LLC. According to the agreement with the mayor's office, the finished facility was supposed to be completed in the second quarter of 2005, but construction by the Social Initiative was frozen at the beginning of 2005 at the foundation pit stage without explanation. As a result, the prosecutor's office of the Leninsky district of Orenburg, on whose territory the foundation pit with the unfinished Atrium is located, opened criminal cases of deliberate bankruptcy and fraud against the managers of Atrium LLC and the bankruptcy trustee. The Atrium itself was placed under arrest, which has not yet been lifted.
According to Kommersant's information, the Orenburg mayor's office has received commercial proposals from investors ready to invest in long-term construction. However, the administration refuses to name which companies have submitted applications, as well as the timing of the start of construction work. “A fundamental decision was made that the upper level of the Atrium needs to be completed. Moreover, with the participation of both investors and the city budget, so that the historical part of the city finally acquires a decent appearance. There are offers from two prospective investors, but the problem now is choice. Many copies of this object have already been broken, and we would not want the situation to repeat,” explained the chairman of the Orenburg City Council Andrei Shevchenko.
The appearance of investors is called very timely. As the head of the press service of the Orenburg City Council, Alexander Kurusin, explained, out of the 117 million budget surplus, 20 million rubles were supposed to be allocated to eliminate long-term construction. “The money was supposed to be used to bury the almost completed underground block of the trade and administrative complex,” explained Mr. Kursin. “The deputies were determined to liquidate the Atrium, excluded options for its possible completion and insisted on the speedy restoration of the city’s central street.” It is already known that, taking into account the new circumstances, the amount of 20 million rubles will remain “reserved” for the object - at the next meeting of the City Council, which will take place in early September, it is planned to send them to the Orenburg Property Management Committee for participation in shared investment in the construction of the Atrium transport facility. with subsequent registration of municipal ownership rights to the share. Regional experts, while generally positive about the prospects for resuming construction, still predict a number of problems. For example, Vladimir Frolov, a member of the legislative assembly of the Orenburg region, believes that inviting new investors is the only acceptable option, since a large amount of money has already been invested in the facility, “but it continues to remain only a foundation pit and the main irritant for the townspeople.” At the same time, the idea of co-investing an object and allocating 20 million rubles from the budget of Orenburg to it worries Mr. Frolov: “Before talking about co-financing, you need to fully study the biography of the investor so that it doesn’t turn out that the city will simply lose this money.” According to the editor of the Orenburg “Capital” Alexander Epanchintsev, “there was initially a serious stir around the Atrium, since it is located in the very center of the city, 50 meters from the regional government building. Naturally, only its location guarantees high profitability of retail space on site.” The guild of realtors at the regional chamber of commerce and industry also believes that given the shortage of modern premises in the center of Orenburg, there is no need to doubt the success of the project. “Sovetskaya Street and those parallel to it, which are central in the city, are almost completely given over to offices, shopping and entertainment facilities, despite the fact that the rental cost is 3-4 times higher than in other areas of the city, and the condition of the buildings is predominantly The 19th century leaves much to be desired. The flow of people here, even on weekdays, is 5-10 times higher than in other areas, so it is already obvious today that Atrium’s retail space will be in great demand,” the guild predicts.
Mikhail Antonov, Orenburg

Kommersant (Samara) No. 141 from 08/09/2007

Orenburg City Hall is reviving Atrium