Latvia once again fails to sell Russian House at auction

The repeated auction of the State Property Enterprise (VNĪ) for the sale of the Moscow Cultural and Business Center at 7 Marijas Street in Riga, better known as the Russian House, did not attract interest from potential investors, according to information on the electronic bidding website izsoles.ta.gov.lv.

VNĪ offered to purchase the Russian House at a second auction with a starting price of 2.856 million euros.

The property consists of a 966-square-meter land plot and a building on it.

Representatives of VNĪ informed LETA that in order to stimulate investor interest, a proposal will be submitted to the VNĪ board to reduce the auction price of the property by another 10% of the initial price, which will amount to 30% of the conditional price. This decision is expected to be made on November 5, after which a second auction may be announced on November 8.

With a 30% reduction in the starting price, the starting price of the auction will be EUR 2.499 million.

This will be the second price reduction for the Russian House - the first 20% reduction took place in October 2024 after the first unsuccessful auction.

Earlier it was reported that at the previous auction, which began on August 20 and ended on September 19, the Russian House was put up for sale with a starting price of 3.57 million euros.

On January 11, 2024, the Sejm adopted in the final reading the law “On the disposal of real estate necessary to eliminate threats to national security,” which transferred the so-called Russian House to state ownership. The purpose of the law is to guarantee the security of the Latvian state, including the prevention and timely elimination of threats to the democratic state system.

On March 26, 2024, the government decided to transfer ownership of the Russian House, which was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transport, to the Ministry of Finance.

The proceeds from the auction are to be transferred to the state budget and subsequently used to support the Ukrainian population.

Source: TVNET / LETA