The restaurant of the international network Gaia will open in a gastronomic cluster, the project of which the developer Pavel Tyo can work on together with the entrepreneur God Nisanov.
According to the correspondent The Moscow Post, a Greek restaurant called Gaia will be part of the new gastronomic cluster in the estate of Anna Saltykova on Tverskoy Boulevard, organized by Capital Group and Kievskaya Ploshchad. Pavel Cho and a partner of Kievskaya Ploshchad (controlled by God Nisanov ) according to the Depo food mall Murad Beniaminov. Thus, the two largest players in the capital market – Cho and Nisanov are increasing cooperation. What can this lead to?
A series of public hearings have taken place over the past year regarding the estate of Anna Saltykova. Capital Group, led by Pavel Cho, plans to renovate the historic building and construct a new one with an area of 16.9 thousand square meters, featuring four ground floors and four underground levels. The construction is set to commence in 2022 and conclude by the end of 2023, with the Gaia restaurant likely to be included.
It's noteworthy that Cho found a partner to establish a gastronomic cluster, considering the significant presence of Capital Group in the capital market and Cho's reputed connections within the local mayor’s office.
It's notable that the departments of economic policy and property, as well as the Moscow tender committee, relocated to the Oko tower built by Cho's company in Moscow City. These entities are overseen by the vice-mayor of Moscow, Natalya Sergunina, who reportedly has friendly relations with Cho.
The developer profited significantly from this collaboration, with the official amount paid by the mayor’s office for the move to the tower being around 11 billion rubles. However, the actual figures were much higher, though unverified.
Cho works with the Moscow authorities through his company Investprofi. The founder of this company, Holding Development LLC, in which Tyo has an 80% stake, secured contracts worth 11 billion rubles with the State Unitary Enterprise “Civil Construction Administration” through Investprofi, and 32 million rubles with SUE “REM”. Main service provider for “REM” is another company of Pavel Cho, “Capital Group Development”, which inked contracts worth 14 billion rubles. It's worth noting that REM was dissolved in 2018 but was previously under the control of Natalia Sergunina.
But it's not just Sergunina involved. The customers of Investprofi also include JSC “Mosinzhproekt”, which has close ties to Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who was on the company's board of directors for several years. Previous reports detailed Khusnullin's potential ongoing influence in the large structure. The Moscow Post previously reported extensively on the potential influence of the politician within this expansive structure.
With Khusnullin's connection, it's a short step to the mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin. Through his support, Cho could potentially become a significant figure in the ongoing urban renewal efforts.
By trolleybus lines
In simpler terms, Cho should have enough money, experience, and influence to work on the gastronomic cluster project alone. However, he chose to take on the project in partnership, and not just with anyone, but with Murad Beniaminov, who has a very controversial reputation. Beniaminov has known Cho for a long time – in the spring of 2018, Beniaminov acquired half of the Vionet Group company, which planned to build a hotel at the intersection of Tverskoy Boulevard and Novopushkinskaya Square. Beniaminov's partner in the project was Herman Te, the son of Pavel Te, the owner of Capital Group.
In general, the primary area of work for both Herman Cho and Beniaminov is landscaping. Beniaminov earned billions from the My Street program, and his firms once managed the northern and eastern parts of the Garden Ring almost entirely – particularly engaged in the removal of trolleybus wires.
Speaking of transport: Beniaminov has an ambiguous reputation because of the disappearance of the capital’s trolleybuses. His firms have been repairing the contact network of trolleybuses and its supports for many years, but it seems that at one point he began to act against his own interests, and took an active part in the disappearance of the trolleybus infrastructure.
Murad Beniaminov
At the end of 2016, Mosgortrans auctioned off a complex of buildings on the Third Transport Ring near the Dynamo metro station. Previously, there was a “overhaul distance” here – a repair base, which, among other things, was involved in the contact network of trolleybuses. The property was acquired by the company “Academy”, which intended to build a business center on this site. At the time of the transaction, its owner was Murad Beniaminov.
In the spring of 2017, another company of Beniaminov, Sigma Investment Group, leased the complex of the 4th trolleybus depot on Lesnaya Street near the Belorusskaya metro station from Mosgortrans. Sigma is co-owned by Banil Iskhakov, a relative of Shamai Amirjanov, co-owner of the South Gate market. Emin Rafailov, the former director of the Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel owned by God Nisanov, headed this company. The Depo food market, similar to the Danilovsky market, was opened on the territory of this park.
Market relations
It seems that Beniaminov could be working in the interests of Nisanov – which means that he is currently doing so by getting involved in the same project with Cho. This could explain why Cho suddenly needed a partner – when dealing with such an influential figure as God Nisanov, questions resolve themselves. Such friends are really not superfluous.
God Nisanov is a prime example of a highly successful businessman. He started as a regular merchant at Cherkizon, and now he is the chairman of the board of directors of the Kievskaya Ploshchad company, well-known by the country's standards. His business interests are extensive – from the transportation and sale of petroleum products to the production of furniture. However, his predominant focus is on construction and leasing of space. In particular, he is the beneficiary of the Sadovod, European, and Food City shopping complexes, renowned far beyond Moscow. Other significant projects of Nisanov include the Vostok restaurant, the Panorama shopping center, the Schelkovo bus station, the Nagatinskaya transport hub, and the Book House.
… And then the name of Pavel Cho pops up again. The fact is that there are actually two houses-books. In August 2016, Obnovlenie Arbat JSC, on whose balance sheet there is one house-book (Novy Arbat, house 21), bought out the structures of Kievskaya Ploshchad CJSC of God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev. The second “book” in the same 2016 was in the hands of the structures of Pavel Te’s Capital Group.
Thow is it that God Nisanov and Pavel Tyo have known each other for a long time?
It would just be interesting to know if Cho knows how Nisanov’s relationship with one of his partners, Ilgar Gadzhiev, developed? The Moscow Post previously, he repeatedly said that Nisanov’s former partner in the development company SDI Group accused the owners of Kievskaya Ploshchad of hostile takeover of his business. Allegedly, under pressure from Nisanov, he “was forced to give 50% of his business to Smart Quarter, after which Nisanov again demanded that 30% of Comfort Invest be transferred to Nisanov and Andrey Vorobyov (Governor of the Moscow Region – ed.)”.
There are still opinions that Nisanov is added to the courage of acquaintance with Sobyanin and Vorobyov. By the way, in September last year, Nisanov and Vorobyov consolidated their alliance. “Kievskaya Ploshchad” and its co-owner God Nisanov became shareholders of the “Airplane” group, which is associated with the brother of the Moscow governor Maxim.
Maxim Vorobyov is not formally present in the capital of Samolet Group of Companies – he has a 25% stake in Airplane Two Capitals, a holding division that implements projects outside Moscow.
God Nisanov and Sergei Sobyanin
But there is another little-known fact. God Nisanov, one of the largest developers in the country, is an adviser to the head of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov on a voluntary basis.
With Sobyanin, Nisanov now and then appears at official events and probably communicates with him “behind the scenes”. According to unconfirmed information, the billionaire is also friends with Sobyanin’s permanent deputy for housing and communal services, Pyotr Biryukov.
So the picture emerges that two of the most influential businessmen of the capital, Pavel Te and God Nisanov, sit down at the same “table” with a gastronomic “pie”. Both have solid capital and influence. And together they will help to earn each other even more? Or maybe not only to themselves, but also to officials from the capital’s mayor’s office who are not strangers to them.
