At the end of August 2012, the famous Moscow hotel Metropol was sold at an auction. The new owner of the hotel, Alexander Klyachin, had to pay 8, 874 billion rubles for this lot.
It became known back in December 2010 that the Metropol hotel would be sold at an auction. The Moscow government has estimated the building and the land plot on which it is installed at 8, 7 billion rubles. The appraisers reacted to the named amount ambiguously: some considered it fair, others said that much more money could be demanded for the Metropol, others decided that the price was too high and the hotel had to be sold cheaper. For a long time, the state was looking for buyers, whom it could pay for Metropol as much as possible, but in the end only one step was taken during the auction, and the object was sold almost at the starting price.
The need to sell the hotel arose after the release of the Decree of the Moscow Government dated 28.12.2010 N 1104-PP. In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, federal authorities, municipal authorities of local self-government and authorities of Moscow cannot own property that is not used to meet state needs. As for the "Metropol", the Moscow Government almost did not deal with this hotel. In addition, since it is used only for business and not for performing government functions, this facility is subject to medium-term privatization. In the aforementioned resolution, "Metropol" is listed in the list of property subject to privatization at number 2.
It should be noted that only the building itself and the land on which it stands went under the hammer, since the state chose to keep all the interior decoration, including several hundred antiques, in its own property. It was also agreed in advance that after the sale, Metropol will not lose its status, which means that the new owner will be obliged to preserve the cultural heritage. Even after acquiring the hotel, he does not receive the right to change its appearance, rebuild, change the interiors, etc. Only restoration will be allowed.