The capital's hotel will completely pass into private hands. It will be sold at auction on November 20. The transfer to a serious investor will only benefit the hotel, experts are sure: the complex will operate more efficiently.

The Russian capital refuses "Budapest". The famous hotel in the center of the capital will go under the hammer on November 20. The city authorities will sell 100% of the shares at auction. The transfer of the hotel into private hands will help its development, says Igor Bukharov, president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers.

“I believe that this should generally be in private hands, because in private hands it will work much more efficiently. Even theoretically, we say that this is a federal state institution or federal state unitary enterprise or State Joint Stock Company "Moscow". It seems like a state office that works, still not works as efficiently as when a private owner invests, who counts every penny,” he is confident.

The starting price of the lot will be more than 940 million rubles. And the auction step is about 50 million. “Budapest” is a very attractive object for investment, noted Stanislav Ivashkevich, deputy director for development at CB Richard Ellis.

"I heard a different price, it was about almost a million dollars per room. But the current price that was presented is normal. $30 million is completely justified by the location. Not even a very high price, I would say. I think the hotel will finally be sold once in one and a half to two times more expensive than now. The condition of the building, of course, leaves much to be desired, but it’s not a wreck. It’s unlikely that Moscow will give up such a tidbit for something unknown, for apartments. If a serious investor takes on this project, it will be a great hotel. He’ll also buy the “Peter I” next door, which will be absolutely great,” he says.

The hotel building is an architectural monument.

The five-story hotel building on Petrovskie Lines Street was built in 1876 according to the design of the architect Freudenberg. The hotel was first called "Empire", then "Elite" and in 1956 it became "Budapest". The hotel has 116 rooms. Due to the architectural features of the building, each room has a unique layout. Open joint stock company "Hotel Budapest" was created in 2001. It rents a hotel from the city and owns the Peter I Hotel attached to it with 134 rooms.

In 2009, Pavel Fuks’s MosCityGroup bought 55% of the OJSC, another 15% of the shares are owned by Vnesheconombank and 30% by the Moscow government. The Moscow Arbitration Court's ruling dated January of this year approved a settlement agreement concluded between Budapest Hotel OJSC and bankruptcy creditors. The amount of debt to creditors is over 1 billion 400 million rubles.

Registration for participation in the auction is carried out until October 26.

Anastasia Anisimova, Mikhail Bocharov, Liliya Ponomareva

Moscow will sell Budapest