YEREVAN (Arka)—Yerevan’s Karen Demirchian Sports and Concert Complex has been transferred to the government of Armenia after it became clear that its significant outstanding debts were too large to be repaid by its owners, Deputy Minister of Finance Pavel Safarian said at a government meeting on Thursday.
The company’s debt to the government was some 10.2 billion drams (about 25 million dollars), Safarian said.
In April 2014 the property was appraised at 25.8 billion drams (about 63.3 million dollars).
The total area of the Complex is 46,335 square meters, without additional premises and the swimming pool. The total area of the property, with all its premises is 95,596 square meters. The lot is a secured property.
The complex was put up for a forced auction six times, but has not been sold. No bid was offered on the last auction which ended on August 21.
The Karen Demirchian Sports and Concert Complex was built in 1983. In October 2005, the Complex was sold to Russia’s BAMO Holdings for $5.7 million. The company obliged to reconstruct the complex. The reconstruction took almost three years and cost about $42 million.
The building is considered a “masterpiece” of later Soviet architecture.
if only the Armenian govt could own its own energy supplies
Instead of demolishing old buildings in Armenia that date back to the first Republic, like the Afrikyans House, maybe the government should consider revamping some of its Soviet architecture. The location of this KDSC is ideal, and the general scheme seems promising, but maybe they should look into something more modern and not from 1951.