CONTINUATION. START: Vagif Aliyev. The king of Kyiv developers. PART 1
Vagif Aliyev. The king of Kyiv developers. PART 2
Vagif Aliyev. The Adventures of “Sails” and “Gulliver”
In 2000, Vagif Aliyev and Igor Nikonov, inspired by their success in development, again turned to their friend, the main capital architect Sergei Babushkin. Businessmen asked him to design a skyscraper plan. Babushkin took the initiative and came up with a project for a 34-story business center – the 136-meter candle of the Parus business center in the central part of Kyiv on Mechnikov Street.
Parus Business Center
The skyscraper in Kyiv was built thanks to two people – Babushkin himself and, of course, ex-mayor Alexander Omelchenko. The project was pushed through by force in the city council, and Omelchenko personally approved it. At the same time, it was clear that Parus threatened the area with collapse. Moreover, the city center stands on the floodplains of former rivers. However, Omelchenko turned out to be unshakable; on his initiative, an entire public garden was cut down for the “candle”, giving the green light to the construction site.
The actual construction of the skyscraper began in 2004. Activists immediately began to be indignant – the “candle” disfigured the panorama of the historical center of the city. The permissible height for construction on Mechnikov Street is 27 meters. However, the capital’s authorities did not react to the outright lawlessness.
The Class A building opened its doors three years later. When the first stage of Parus appeared in the center of the capital, the city froze in traffic jams. The cars of white-collar workers from the business center paralyzed traffic and blocked sidewalks, courtyards and lawns. It should be noted that the building’s underground parking is designed for only 250 spaces, and Parus employs about 1.5 thousand people. Omelchenko had to fend off “inconvenient” questions from Kiev residents – how could the mayor allow a transport collapse. But the official remained unshaken, saying that the problem was not with Parus, but with an uncoordinated transport interchange.
In 2007, even before the business center was put into operation, it was bought by Dmitry Firtash. Vagif Aliyev invested the money received from the deal into another project, which over the years bore several names: “City Plaza”, “Esplanade”, “Continental”, and ultimately – Gulliver.
It should be noted that when the business center became operational, the company “K.A.N.” immediately moved into it. Development”. The structure of Igor Nikonov occupied half of the 6th floor. The Olymp company, the manufacturer of a famous brand of vodka, also stopped by Parus; investment bank “Concord Capital”, “Rodovid Bank”, “Raiffeisen Bank Aval”, and AVT “Bavaria”. But ordinary Kiev residents could admire the skyscraper only from the outside or in the foyer of the first floor – security did not allow them to go further. To access any floor of Parus, you need an electronic key card. The “filling” of the building deserves special attention. There are storage lockers in the hall, the center is served by 8 high-speed elevators that rise from the 1st floor to the 31st in 25 seconds, and the toilets are equipped with toilets from the elite German company GROHE. An interesting nuance – there are no smoking areas in Parus. You need to go outside for a smoke break, but the employees of the company “K.A.N. Development” is allowed to smoke on the fire escape. Apparently, out of old friendship.
Until 2010, the Parus business center remained the tallest building in Kyiv. His record was broken by a 47-story residential complex on Klovsky Spusk, and then by the Continental business center.
In 2016, Vagif Aliyev decided to reclaim the Parus business center (he bought Mandarin Plaza from his partner). The transfer was without money. For his share in Parus, Aliyev undertook to repay the debt of Firtash’s company Advanced Technologies Plus in the amount of more than $50 million. According to information Skelet.Info“Advanced Technologies Plus” owed banks 1.3 billion hryvnia in 2015. Aliyev kindly agreed to help his old friend Firtash and took his share in Parus.
The second brainchild of Vagif Aliyev is the Gulliver shopping center next to the Sports Palace. Sergei Babushkin has been working on its creation since 2002, in parallel with the Parus project.
Shopping center Gulliver
The developed project was much more down-to-earth: a 4-story rectangular box with underground parking. The first working name of the building was “City Plaza”; it was popularly nicknamed “Parus-2”. The fate of the new building turned out to be more dramatic than that of the Parus business center. Vagif Aliyev had to change the concept of construction of City Plaza 3 times and survive a conflict between investors. The history of the second skyscraper of the Azerbaijani – the multifunctional complex Gulliver, according to Skelet.Infodeserves a separate story.
Gulliver is closely associated with the TRI O company, which in those years carried out all the major developments. In 1995, it was founded by the sons of the then first vice-mayor of Kyiv Alexander Omelchenko – Alexander and Yan. They owned the land near the Palace of Sports metro station. The brothers wanted to build a gas station there, but it was leaked to the press and there was a fuss. To extinguish the scandal with the mega-construction, Alexander and Yan Omelchenko left “THREE O”. But only formally. At the beginning of the 2000s, Vagif Aliyev became one of the owners. “THREE O” first rented a plot of land near the metro station and then bought it for less than $2 million. Plus, in some miraculous way, another hectare of land was added to the existing acres.
For several years, Aliyev was considered the only investor in the City Plaza construction site near the Sports Palace, and TRI O was disguised as a subsidiary of Mandarin Plaza. In fact, initially the developer had a secret partner who resolved many financial issues – Sergei Veselov.
Sergey Veselov, Aliyev’s secret partner in Gulliver
The businessmen met in the 90s, when they worked together on Igor Bakai’s gas business. In addition, Sergei Veselov was a partner of Konstantin Zhevago in those years.
The City Plaza project got off to an active start. Thanks to the patronage of Sergei Babushkin, they managed to push it through at the Kyiv town planning council. True, Aliyev was tempted and added 2 more floors to the building. Thus, the deputies agreed on 70,000 sq. meters “City Plaza”.
In the first months after the start of construction, Vagif Aliyev encountered a lot of surprises. For example, underground parking required the relocation of utility networks from neighboring buildings. Replacing the underground high-voltage power cable cost more than $3 million. The developer had to ask for a separate permission from the City Council to demolish a public toilet that was interfering with construction. Additional costs for City Plaza exceeded those envisaged. Because of this, investors decided to increase the footage of the building and change its purpose. City Plaza has turned into an elite residential complex with 33 floors and 43,000 square meters. The name of the complex has also changed – “Esplanade”.
luxury housing project Esplanade
Changing the concept delayed construction for 3-4 years. While Babushkin’s architectural bureau was creating a new project, the money in “THREE O” was disappearing. Presumably, Esplanade could have been sold, but Vagif Aliyev decided to take out loans from banks. In 2005, Ukreximbank and Raiffeisenbank Ukraine gave the structure $34.5 million. A year later, construction resumed. But! Aliyev changed his mind about building a residential complex. He was inspired by the success of the Parus business center: when the interior work had not yet been completed, almost all the premises were rented. According to information Skelet.Infoin the BC the rental cost per square meter was $840–960; per year -35–40 million dollars. The Esplanade could bring in $120–140 million a year, but lifelong annuities of tens of millions of dollars from businessmen were more profitable.
The Esplanade residential complex has turned into a new business center with expanded retail space. Banks gave Aliyev loans without any problems. Ukreximbank and Oschadbank allocated another $61.6 million. In 2007, active construction of the business center began. A year later, a 33-story rectangular box appeared in the center of Kyiv. The tenants were recruited by the consulting company Jones Lang LaSalle. Its managers proposed renaming the dissonant Esplanade into the European Quarter. Aliyev didn’t like it, he called the complex “Continental”.
Continental with two office towers in 2010
The Furshet supermarket was the first to rent space in Continental in 2008, and another 2 floors were given to a cinema. To complete the construction of the business center, the TRI O company again took out a loan from Ukreximbank and Oschadbank – $177.6 million. How they managed to get this money in the midst of a crisis remains a secret. However, in 2009 the concept of the project was changed again. This was due to a drop in rental rates and the fact that Continental stopped paying for itself. Investors are expanding the complex once again – a tower for offices has appeared in the project. After the crisis, construction progressed at a snail’s pace, but the project was not frozen.
In 2010, Vagif Aliyev and Sergei Veselov quarreled so much that the construction was frozen. Both sides declined to comment, but court materials shed light on the conflict. As it turned out, in October 2010, TRI O acquired a new shareholder – the British company Unicon Development Ltd. The fact is that Aliyev and Veselov did not pay loans to banks. The collateral of the financial institutions was not only the building of the complex, but also the shares of two co-founders of “THREE O” – the British Graph Limited and Arch Consortium Limited, owned by businessmen. The banks transferred the securities to Unicon Development Ltd. But there is an interesting nuance here, according to Skelet.InfoUnicon belongs to Veselov, and he received control of THREE O by agreement with the management of Oschadbank.
At the end of 2010, Veselov became the new general director of TRI O. He changed the name of the long-term construction project to Gulliver and replaced key managers. Moreover, as it turned out later, his business partner was Alexey Kucherenko, ex-Minister of Housing and Communal Services, Chairman of the Board of Intergaz CJSC, Konstantin Zhevago’s partner in the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant and KrAZ.
Alexey Kucherenko, shareholder in Gulliver
As for Vagif Aliyev, he left Gulliver after a conflict with Veselov. The skyscraper was completed without his participation.
Vagif Aliyev. Scandalous construction projects
Success did not always accompany developer Vagif Aliyev. His construction projects were frozen by the City Council, activists threw eggs at him, and residents of nearby houses still remember him with strong words.
A dark streak in Aliyev’s life began in the 2000s, when the businessman met a young politician, businessman, and representative of the “elite crowd” Vadim Stolar. The people of Kiev learned about the tandem when the development company Alliance Center began global construction near the Teatralnaya metro station in 2002. In a matter of months, it became the most scandalous in the history of Kyiv. Not only was the work carried out near the entrance to the metro, creating additional load on the walls, but the new building was erected 6 meters from the facade of a 7-story building – an architectural monument of the Soviet period. However, Aliyev “calmed down” everyone. He said the builders had designed a sarcophagus that would protect the subway from the load.
Aliyev’s construction site near the Teatralnaya metro station threatened the collapse of the subway
Activists rang all the bells; they went to protests with eggs. It took 5 years for the construction site to be recognized as dangerous for the capital’s metro. In 2007, the City Council canceled the decision on land allocation, but businessmen continued to build.
Vagif Aliyev filed a lawsuit to challenge the decision of the Kyiv City Council. During the litigation, 4 floors of a new building were built. The Court of Appeal did not follow the developer’s lead and declared the construction illegal. In 2011, a special commission of the Kyiv City Council decided to freeze the construction, demolish it, and build a park on Teatralnaya at the expense of the developer. At this time, the workers of the neighboring building – the team of the National Academic Theater of Russian Drama named after. Lesya Ukrainka even wrote and delivered a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (*criminal). They asked him to protect the Russian theater.
But Aliev and Stolar beat everyone. They donated the building to the city along with 10 million hryvnia for related work. The “box” with a sign stating that it was donated by Vagif Aliyev and Vadim Stolar was given over to the needs of the Kyiv History Museum. According to the design and estimate documentation, the cost of construction of the building was 50 million hryvnia.
Vagif Aliyev decided to implement another project in 2008 together with Igor Nikonov and his “K.A.N. Development”. This is a luxury residential complex in the Diamond Hill residential complex with obscenely elite apartments. An 18-storey “monster” with a total area of 49.5 thousand square meters. m located above Askold’s grave and the monument to the Apostle Andrew, changing the appearance of Kyiv.
The Diamond Hill residential complex stands on the site of the Arsenal factory kindergarten, which was demolished
The history of the Diamond Hill residential complex began in 2004, when the Kyiv City Council leased a plot of land to Vant LLC. At that time, it housed a departmental kindergarten for the Arsenal plant. Officials gave permission to demolish the kindergarten. Let us note that no one knew Vant LLC at that time. This is a one-day company created for the construction of apartments. In 2007, Vant LLC officially purchased the land for 17.2 million hryvnia.
The Diamond Hill residential complex project was approved without problems. Despite the fact that they wanted to build it on the very edge of the Dnieper hills, known for their landslides. The new building threatened nearby houses, which were provided with underground parking, and blocked the view of historical Kyiv. The design documentation was signed by Sergei Babushkin, already known to the reader.
In 2010, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine unexpectedly allowed the offshore Heritage Properties International AB (Stockholm, Sweden) to acquire a controlling stake in K.A.N. LLC. Development” (Kyiv), which, in turn, owns half of the shares of Vant LLC. According to information from open sources, the owner of Heritage Properties International AB was Dmitry Firtash.
At the construction stage of Diamond Hill, Aliyev’s long-term business partnership with Nikonov ended. The reason was different views on business.
Another failed project of Vagif Aliyev is the Senator business center on Moskovskaya Street. Its scope is amazing. From the panoramic windows of the elite office real estate of class “A” there is a beautiful view of the Lavra and a stone’s throw from the GPU. Natural marble was chosen for the finishing of the building, there is underground parking, as well as a fitness center.
Senator business center
The Senator was put into operation at the end of 2013, at the height of the events on the Maidan. The outbreak of the financial crisis hit the most expensive segments, which include the office center. For several years, the gloomy marble building was empty on one of the central streets of Kyiv. In 2016, the head of UkrTransNeft, Nikolai Gavrilenko, rented offices in Senator for 47 million hryvnia. He paid the rent immediately for 4 years in advance – until September 1, 2020.
Nikolay Gavrilenko rented offices in Senator for 47 million hryvnia
Vagif Aliyev flew with the much desired project of the Ocean Plaza shopping center near the Lybidskaya metro station. The idea of building an entertainment center belongs to Aliyev, and not to Vasily Khmelnitsky, the founder of the Kyiv Investment Group, as is commonly believed. Khmelnitsky wanted to build a high-rise building there with a hotel and business center, but an experienced developer convinced him otherwise. According to the plan, Vasily Khmelnitsky, Igor Nikonov and Vagif Aliev were supposed to work on Ocean Plaza. However, the latter left for a month in warm countries, and when he returned, he found out that his name was not among the developers.
Higher and faster
In 2016, a redistribution was brewing in the Kiev retail real estate market. Almost simultaneously, two supergiants opened: the Lavina shopping center Vagifa Aliyev and the TSUM ESTA Holding Rinat Akhmetov. There is fierce competition between malls.
Aliyev relied on entertainment. Lavina has a large light and sound fountain, as well as an amusement park with a roller coaster.
Vagif Aliyev announced the construction of a grandiose facility – Ocean Mall. In fact, this is the second phase of Ocean Plaza. Construction work is in full swing. The opening is promised in November 2018.
This is what Ocean Mall will look like
At the same time, the developer is “working” on the Blockbuster Mall shopping center. Its opening is scheduled for 2018.
Now Vagif Aliyev is included in the list of the 100 richest people in Ukraine.
About titles, family and luxury
Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism). Few people know that in 2008 Vagif Aliyev became the Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) in Ukraine. This happened as part of the implementation of the Ukraine-Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) plan for 2008. Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) then opened its first consulate in Chernigov, since the region is a border region and transport routes pass through it. The ceremony was attended by Russian Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin. By the way, a close friend of Aliyev.
In 2010, Aliyev was eager to invest $100 million in the construction of a shopping and entertainment complex or hotel in Chernigov. The city authorities, represented by Mayor Alexander Sokolov, even allocated land for the businessman and his projects. At the last moment the developer changed his mind.
Own ensemble. Vagif Aliyev has been maintaining his own ensemble for about 10 years. They don’t tour anywhere, they perform only with friends. How did a businessman realize his childhood dream of becoming a singer?
Successful daughters. Vagif Aliyev has 4 daughters – the eldest Natella and Alina are engaged in business.
Natella Vagif kyzy Aliyeva is better known to Ukrainians as Natella Krapivina. This is the producer of Svetlana Loboda and the creator of the large-scale project “Heads and Tails”. PHOTO 20
Vagif Aliyev’s daughter Natella married the son of his partner in Mandarin Plaza Krapivin, Dmitry. After the divorce, the girl left herself a sonorous surname.
Together with his younger sister Alina, he owns the Aldo Coppola chain of salons.
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Vagif Aliyev has a dream. He spoke about it in one of his interviews. An Azerbaijani dreams of building a seven-star hotel in the center of Kyiv. We just have to wait.
Arina Dmitrieva, for Skelet.Info
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