For the umpteenth time, in St. Petersburg they are trying to sell the long-suffering Kresty complex on Arsenalnaya Embankment. The sale date has been postponed again. What is the reason for this delay, and why the old prison cannot find a buyer, the editors of Kompromat. Group”.
Sale of the Russian Bastille
The final decision that the Kresty pre-trial detention center would be transferred to a complex of new buildings was made back in 2006. Then construction began in Kolpino, which eventually, as we already wrote, ended in a criminal case and a contract killing. However, the fate of the old “Crosses” was already sealed.
It must be said that the sale of this ancient pre-trial detention center did not look like an easy undertaking from the very beginning. Even then, experts expressed the opinion that it was a “complex asset.” After the last prisoners left the building complex, public discussions began in the city administration and the press about what fate awaited the building on Arsenalnaya Embankment. It was absolutely necessary to sell or somehow arrange the fate of the “Crosses,” because otherwise the old “Crosses” risked repeating the fate of many abandoned monuments of St. Petersburg, which have stood for years, are gradually being destroyed, turning into a shelter for the homeless and pigeons.
As a result, the city transferred the complex for sale to “House. RF”. It was planned that after the sale, (taking into account the commission) 80% of the money, the state company would transfer to the federal autonomous institution “Research and Production Association of the Penitentiary System,” which is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Penitentiary Service.
In the summer of 2023, at SPIEF, the company’s management stated that trading would begin in the second quarter of 2024. However, it has now become known that the sale dates have been postponed to IIIquarter. Neither the developers nor the city administration have officially commented on this transfer.
The most curious thing in this situation is that the cost of the complex has not yet been determined. Initially, experts expressed cautious estimates that the price of the lot could start from 4 billion rubles, due to the very good location in the city center. However, experts warned that developers would only become interested in purchasing the asset if the buyer was allowed to completely demolish the remains of the prison. With the preservation of some buildings – cultural heritage sites and the increased need for redevelopment, the price will drop significantly.
More than 16 years ago, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region Valery Zaborovsky estimated the cost of “Crosses” at 80–120 million eurosand experts said that you can get money for it and that’s it 150–170 million. Now we are no longer talking about such numbers.
If the restrictions and the amount of restoration work are small, and the developer is allowed to use the spots for residential development, then the investment was estimated at approximately 8–10 billion rubles. In the meantime, it is well known that the city authorities will not allow the complex of buildings to be demolished. This issue, as they say, is not even discussed.
The Kresty prison complex was built in 1884–1892 according to the design of the architect Antoni Tomishko. The prison was originally designed for 1,150 prisoners, who were planned to be housed in 960 cells. Later, the number of cells designed as single cells increased. The construction of the “Crosses” cost 1.5 million rubles. The pre-trial detention center was used for its intended purpose until 2017, then all prisoners were transferred to a new pre-trial detention center in Kolpino. The complex has the status of a cultural heritage site.
Object of interest
When it became known that the city authorities were ready to sell the former prison, KGIOP began to explain to the general public all the prospects for investment in this project.
A lot of time has passed since 2017, when the cells of the pre-trial detention center were empty. Since then, there have been many proposals to make from “Crosses”.
Museum. In 2016, head of the Federal Penitentiary Service for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, Igor Potapenko, stated that there would be a museum on the site of the legendary prison. True, it was not very clear why. There is no doubt that in the future one of the buildings of the complex should be dedicated to the history of the prison and the famous personalities held here at different times. But it is unlikely that all the buildings of the complex will be required for this, and tourists are unlikely to want to inspect all the thousand identical cameras.
Monastery. Some time ago, the voices of social activists were heard with the idea of transferring the complex to the Russian Orthodox Church for the organization of a monastery or pilgrimage center. But the St. Petersburg diocese gracefully extricated itself, declaring that they did not need such a large facility for these purposes.
Office or hotel. Over the years, the opinion has been expressed more than once that converting Kresty into a hotel or office center is a good idea. But, as always, there were nuances. Such a project required a complete reformatting of the prison buildings and the organization of a large parking lot on the territory of the complex. But besides a number of obvious problems, it was very difficult to imagine rooms or offices with tiny windows in the ceiling, from where a meager piece of the rainy St. Petersburg sky is barely visible. In addition, we should not forget that “Crosses” was a so-called executive prison – in one of its buildings, prisoners sentenced to capital punishment were shot. The prospect for tourists to spend the night next to the ghosts of murdered criminals, of course, can excite thrill-seekers, but most visitors to the city clearly do not count on such “interesting things”.
University. An unusual proposal came from students of the St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering.
Architects with a burning gaze proposed the concept of a higher educational institution. In this case, the prison buildings would not have to be converted into dormitories at all. Here it was quite possible to create small classrooms and rooms for students’ self-study.
The calmest idea to date was the idea of placing some kind of archive here. Calm and quiet. But in the city, perhaps, there is no such huge archive that would urgently need immediate placement.
Some time ago, the governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov said that “Crosses” would be turned into a new art cluster in St. Petersburg with hotels and restaurants. But so far there have been no active volunteers.
Heavy burden
On the sidelines of the real estate market and developers, they say that the place is certainly iconic and interesting, but there are a lot of difficult questions. The most important thing is the history of this place. Demolish the prison where they were imprisoned in the cells over the years Alexander Kerensky, Lev Gumilev, Joseph Brodsky, Leon Trotskywhere the future Marshal of the Soviet Union was almost shot Konstantin Rokossovsky – not everyone will raise their hand, and the public will simply brand and peck at you.
This is not just a prison, this is the history of St. Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad. Here, prisoners dismantled prison walls, forged official IDs, took hostages, and even seduced female prosecutors. However, only one person managed to escape from here – the famous raider Lenka Panteleev. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the Federal Penitentiary Service has the right to indefinite use of the land on which the former pre-trial detention center stands. Sale records show that the House. The Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) will not receive the entire 4.2 hectare plot, which is located under the Krestov buildings, but only 3.9 hectares. That is, there are no plans to give away 0.3 hectares, on which some of the buildings with historical facades with an exit and a view of the embankment will remain.
If we judge impartially, then the place itself is very tasty for investors. After all, if large residential complexes are built there, they will have views of the Neva, and penthouses, for example, will have views of the Tauride Garden and the Smolny Cathedral. But, as always, it comes down to… the atmosphere.
Major real estate experts are confident that a place where people were shot is a bad case for buyers. Even if an interesting loft quarter project is developed here with showrooms, offices, apartments and shops, the poisoned atmosphere will still affect the impressionability of potential buyers of the site. In other words: bad energy of the place, poor sales.
Here’s what our insiders think about it: