The Government rendered a decision on the “Provision of the Immovable property for lease” under which the non-residential territory —“AOKS” building with the total surface of 651.6 m² located at 3 Abovyan Str., Kentron, city of Erevan was provided for lease for 10 years in order to conduct activity not prohibited by law. Under the decision it was defined that the minimum monthly rent of the building to be provided under lease shall amount to AMD 15,450,000, based on the market value of the monthly rate estimated by “ANT REALTY” LLC as of February 28, 2024.

The Committee shall organize the auction within 3 months after the decision enters into force. In case the lessee fails to fulfill or fulfills 50% of the investment obligations undertaken as a result of the auction, within 6 month the Lessee shall be obliged to make the investments envisaged for that period at the same time the latter shall be obliged to pay a penalty to the state budget in the amount of 15% of the amount of investment failed to be made in case it is less than AMD 300 million and in the amount of 10 % in case it exceeds AMD 300 million. Where the Lessee fulfills 50% or more of the investment obligations undertaken under the auction, the Lessee shall, within 4 months, completely fulfill the investment obligations envisaged for the said period at the same time the latter shall be obliged to pay a penalty to the state budget in the amount of 10% of the amount of investment failed to be made in case it is less than AMD 300 million and in the amount of 5% in case it exceeds AMD 300 million. Based on the provided substantiations, a settlement agreement was concluded between the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia, Cadastre Committee of the Republic of Armenia, Armenian Society for Cultural Cooperation with Foreign Countries, AOKS Company, “Ocean Pacific Global Properties Limited” company, Gagik Sahadyan and Adela Stepanyan, pursuant whereof the ownership right to a building was transferred to the Republic of Armenia.

Taking into consideration the fact, that the building was included in the list of immovable cultural and historical monuments of the city of Yerevan, it was decided to provide the building for lease through auction.

 “I believe that the building of AOKS returned to the state through legal procedure is the most visible and significant building at the moment and we shall do everything possible to effectively manage that building,” mentioned Nikol Pashinyan referring to the decision,.

The Prime Minister highlighted that the only limitation regarding the lease of that building was the preservation of the cultural content of the building. And afterwards the projects regarding repairing and decoration works of that building shall be approved and the work process shall be supervised by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports.

“Yes, as the building has a historical and cultural significance, it is a historical and cultural monument, any exterior decoration work shall be carried out only on the basis of positive professional conclusion, in order to be sure that the external appearance of the building or the internal structure, which also has a historical and cultural value, will not be distorted in any way. It means that we shall receive the project and our Scientific-Methodological Committee composed of professionals of the field will discuss it,” mentioned Zhanna Andreasyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports in response.

The Prime Minister reminded that a public auction shall be announced and all the entities meeting the specified requirements shall have the right to participate in the auction.

Tigran Khachatryan, Deputy Prime Minister mentioned that 10 years shall be defined as the main period of the contract and it shall have a preemptive right to prolong the contract for another 10 years.

Nikol Pashinyan attached importance to the effective management of such property, “Pursuant to my perception this building and similar buildings must be further managed with the logic of providing them for lease, thus ensuring continuous income for the state budget. I believe that our budget revenues from state property management have the potential to be much higher, and that potential just needs to be used in a proper way”.

Anna Vardapetyan, Prosecutor General mentioned that ownership right of the Republic of Armenia over another property was registered during the previous week—immovable property located at 36/3 Koghbatsi Str., with the total surface of 235,8 m². “At the moment the Republic of Armenia has the right to conduct site development activity and during this week we shall submit a letter to the Staff of the Prime Minister, with a request to involve the Government in the process of receiving the completion act so that the Government could manage this property in the future”, stated Anna Vardapetyan.