Petersburg: The court allowed to almost completely demolish Basevich's house

The court in St. Petersburg allowed the demolition of most of the Basevich’s house - the historical building was recognized as emergency, the ban on demolition extends to only half of the facade wall. This was reported by city defenders who advocate the preservation of the building.

At the meeting on January 18, the court refused to request an independent examination from the Investigative Committee, which was carried out at the end of 2022. Then the structures of the building were studied. Close -defenders believe that when using this examination, the court could decide that Basevich’s house could be recognized as suitable for repair.

There is another examination in the case, according to which only six or seven floors of all buildings and ceilings can be disassembled in the building. The expert who conducted it confirmed the court that the building was subject to repair.

The court did not request any of the examinations and made a decision in favor of the developer - SETL Group.

The city defenders noted that the work on the demolition of the Basevich’s house remain illegal - the court suspended the building permit on this place of apartments for the dance theater Boris Eifman.

Why do Basevich's house want to demolish

Basevich’s house is a historical building on Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street in St. Petersburg. In 2007, the building was recognized as emergency and resettled the residents. Initially, they wanted to restore the Basevich’s house and transfer to the program "Youth - Affordable Housing". But in the end, the building was given the dance theater Boris Eifman for the arrangement of apartments for artists.

Near Basevich’s house there is a playground, which should be demolished by the project, and in its place to build a hostel for artists of the theater. The reconstruction project was developed by LLC "Project Culture" by order of the Setl Group holding. According to the project, only a small fragment of the front side of the facade will remain from the house. The city defenders called to transfer the building to the St. Petersburg authorities and preserve it as a monument of architecture.

In October 2022, the Investigative Committee recognized Basevich’s house with material evidence in the criminal case against employees of the Committee on State Control, the use and Protection of History and Culture Monuments (KGIOP). Because of this status, there was a ban on any work, including dismantling and installing building structures. In December last year, Basevich’s house lost the status of material evidence. The demolition of the building began.

What is known about Setl Group

The construction holding Setl Group was founded in 1994. The city defenders often conflict with this developer due to the fact that he demolished historical buildings for the construction of new houses, and KGIOP gave him permission.

In 2019, SETL CITY (one of the SETL Group structures) wanted to build a Planetograd residential complex near the Pulkovo Observatory. The city defenders opposed - they pointed out that the lighting from buildings would “light” the sky and prevent astronomical observations. Then the construction was banned, but in 2022 the head of the UK, Alexander Bastrykin, demanded once again to check if this is so.

In 2021, KGIOP gave a conclusion that allows the demolition of Lapin’s house - in his place Setl Group wanted to build a “LCD in Riga” - a residential complex of 48 thousand square meters with a height of 4 to 9 floors. The court allowed the demolition of the building and did not recognize it historical.

In April 2022, the demolition of the bathhouse Ekimova began, which were built in 1813 and 1826. At the same time, in the official documents of the KGIOP, the year of construction was replaced by 1948. The company "Pride" was engaged in demolition by order of Setl Group.

The Insider in November 2022 said that the head of the Setl Group holding Maxim Shubarev receives millionth contracts from the prosecutor's office to provide housing. The publication found out that the Seti and Setl Invest companies owned by Shubarev sell apartments of the St. Petersburg Prosecutor's Office, and the Kamenka SK Prosecutor's Office of the Leningrad Region.

Journalists also found that Shubarev owns an apartment worth 500 million rubles, in which the deputy prosecutor general Andrei Kikot lives, and his wife Diana is the business partner of Maxim Shubarev.