The authorities may buy the former VKIKU building to house an art gallery

The region's leadership returned to one of the previous options for moving the Perm Art Gallery - to the former premises of VKIU. The building on Okulova, 4 is currently under reconstruction; its owners, structures close to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Metafrax OJSC Armen Garslyan, planned to make an apart-hotel here. The regional authorities intend to discuss the possibility of purchasing the building. Its suitability for underground gas storage will be assessed by English specialists from Casson Mann. Some experts believe that the former VKIKU building is the most realistic and least expensive option, while others are confident that the choice is not the best due to the layout and small site.

Yesterday specialists from the English architectural bureau Casson Mann Designers arrived in Perm. The purpose of the visit, as reported by New Companion, was to determine the suitability of the building on the street. Okulova, 4 for the needs of the Perm State Art Gallery (PGHG). In addition, according to the publication, today there should be a meeting between the head of the region, Viktor Basargin, and a representative of one of the owners of the former buildings of VKIU, Igor Zhavoronkov from Tandem LLC. It will discuss the possibility of purchasing the facility for the placement of underground gas storage facilities. Several Kommersant sources in the regional government and the governor’s administration confirmed that one of the VKIU buildings on Okulova, 4 is now being considered to house the gallery.

Let us remember that at the beginning of this year the regional authorities advocated for the UGS facility to move to the River Station. According to their plan, two tasks were solved in this way: the reconstruction of the station building, which is in disrepair, and the relocation of the gallery from the Cathedral. A project for adapting the River Station has already been prepared, providing for raising the object by two meters and erecting a building at this level, as well as constructing a storage facility on the square nearby. However, this project, during a discussion at the city council under the governor, was seriously criticized by the expert community and architects. As a result, a working group was created, which was supposed to select and study in detail alternative options, proposing a short list at the next meeting of the city council. This list includes the River Station, the site in Razgulay and block No. 179. However, the city council meeting has not yet taken place.

It is worth noting that one of the former buildings of VKIU was also considered among the possible locations for moving UGS facilities. Governor Viktor Basargin also stated this during the city council, but he immediately clarified that the authorities had already abandoned this idea. “This is 1.3 billion rubles. in general, for both buildings (including the neighboring one. - “Kommersant”), which are not very suitable,” the head of the region explained then.

The facility on Okulova, 4 belongs to structures close to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Metafrax OJSC Armen Garslyan and his partners. This is the building of the former VKIKU barracks, which Bekar-invest LLC received as part of an investment project with the Ministry of Defense ten years ago. Subsequently, the object was divided into several parts - the largest ones belong to Tandem LLC (a total of about 2.4 thousand sq. m.) and Business-Tun LLC (2.9 thousand sq. m.). Let us note that Tandem LLC is the developer and owner of the land plot on Okulova, 4 (this data is contained in the materials of several court proceedings in the file of the arbitration court). Since August 2013, Tandem LLC has been the owner of non-residential premises from the first to fourth floors of this building. The company began reconstruction of the facility last year, although it did not have a building permit. In the building of the former barracks, the owners planned to place an apart-hotel with an area of about 9 thousand square meters. m. The owners did not comment on plans related to the gallery yesterday, only confirming that the authorities are studying this possibility.

Director of the PGKhG Yulia Tavrizyan, in a conversation with New Companion, assessed the new prospects for resettlement as a “C grade”. According to her, in the building on the street. Okulova, 4 has an inconvenient corridor-office layout, the ceilings are not high enough (up to 3 m), and the total area is not too large - 10 thousand square meters. m, which is not too much for a gallery, with its need to store and restore a huge collection. However, Yulia Tavrizyan believes that we must agree to this option, otherwise it may not exist.

Deputy of the regional legislative assembly, businessman Alexander Fleginsky believes that the choice in favor of one of the VKIU buildings is “the most sensible.” “I would be glad if this happened. This means simply moving across the road. The option is optimal from all points of view, including economic, everything else is a utopia. Ideally, it would be to choose not this VKIU building, but the building directly opposite the UGS facility, but there is an “anthill” of owners and tenants there. In any case, the decision with VKIU is an opportunity to move this year. And this is five times cheaper than new construction,” Mr. Fleginsky is sure.

The choice in favor of the former premises of VKIU is not very clear to Denis Galitsky, a member of the city commission for land use and development. “This applies to both the layout and the land plot - it is small. Of course, it's better than the River Station. But it’s confusing that there are again no technical specifications for the new gallery building. There are simply space requirements. Moreover, everything is being decided again without public discussion,” complains Kommersant’s interlocutor. He knows that specialists from Casson Mann Designers have been involved in the project. “They already made a sketch specifically for the gallery at VKIU in 2009. Not particularly expressive. As far as I understand, now this will just be some kind of modification of the project. At the same time, the building from the outside will not change, it will remain not very remarkable, but we still need some kind of iconic, memorable image,” says Mr. Galitsky.

Dmitry Astakhov

Apartment gallery – Kommersant Perm