Crimean casino bet on investor

The structures of the ex-governor of the Krasnodar Territory Alexander Tkachev will take part in the implementation of the Crimean tourism project started by Arkady Rotenberg’s company. We are talking about a complex with a gambling zone on the site of the unfinished sanatorium “Fortuna” in the vicinity of Yalta. Investments in it may exceed 12.5 billion rubles.

Andrey Skok’s Invest Project LLC received 50% in Art of Entertainment LLC, which, in turn, owns the Cypress company, a developing tourism project in Crimea, Kommersant discovered in SPARK. Mr. Skok manages the assets of the ex-governor of the Krasnodar Territory Alexander Tkachev, he also owns Mountain Peaks LLC, which bought the Arkhyz ski resort from the state company Kavkaz.RF.

Previously, the owner of Cypress was named Arkady Rotenberg, the ex-general director of the company Nelly Shatova confirmed this to the Crimea 24 TV channel. Mr. Rotenberg’s representative and the Mantera group (which develops Alexander Tkachev’s assets in the tourism business) declined to comment.

“Cypress” in the summer of 2021 for 210 million rubles. bought the property of the unfinished sanatorium “Fortuna” in the village of Katsiveli, 25 km from Yalta and 4.5 km from Simeiz. It began to be built in 1972 as a departmental health resort, but the work was not completed. In the fall of 2019, it was planned to create a gambling zone “Golden Coast” on the site of the sanatorium. At that time, it was handled by Infrastructure Projects Management Company LLC, also associated with Arkady Rotenberg. But there were no official reports on the progress of construction.

In the summer of 2021, Nelly Shatova spoke to the Crimea 24 TV channel about plans to build a gambling zone, a hotel with 500 rooms, entertainment centers, restaurants and related infrastructure in Katsiveli. She did not rule out involving a specialized operator in the project. Construction was planned to take about three years. In February 2022, Vesti Kryma aired a story about the start of reconstruction of Fortuna.

Managing partner of Ivashkevich Hospitality Stanislav Ivashkevich suggests that the cost of building a quality facility in this location will be 20–25 million rubles. per room. Based on the volume of 500 rooms, investments in the facility could amount to 10–12.5 billion rubles. But the expert doubts that we will be talking about the construction of the entire declared volume: the parameters will probably be reduced, and some of the hotel rooms will be repurposed into apartments for sale. The costs of constructing related facilities will amount to about 300 thousand rubles. for 1 sq. m, he suggests.

For the structures of Alexander Tkachev, the project in Crimea may not be the first gambling zone. The businessman’s company is developing the Krasnaya Polyana resort, which includes the cultural and entertainment center Casino Sochi. According to the Association of Operators of the Entertainment Industry and Sports and Spectacle Events, in total, 700 thousand people visited the Krasnaya Polyana gambling zone last year. The organization expects that traffic in all such territories will increase this year, but does not provide figures.

Stanislav Ivashkevich believes that the project with a gambling zone in Crimea can be successful, but stipulates that its fate largely depends on geopolitical trends. The situation in the tourism market of Crimea has remained tense since the spring of 2022 due to restrictions on the operation of the airport and the information background. Vice-President of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia Sergei Romashkin believes that over the past two years the flow of guests to the peninsula has decreased by about one and a half times; this year about 4.5 million people will visit the region. According to his forecasts, next year the tourist flow to the peninsula will likely remain at the current level.

Mr. Romashkin draws attention to the fact that now in Crimea there is a noticeable lack of all-season entertainment. A gambling zone, as well as the creation of modern amusement parks, shopping centers, and quality restaurants, in his opinion, can fill this gap.

Alexandra Mertsalova, Anatoly Kostyrev