Mykolaiv acquires historic tram substation building into municipal ownership

The building of the first tram substation, Photo: NikVesti

The Mykolaiv City Council has completed the process and received the historic tram substation building located at 8a Soborna Street into municipal ownership. At the same time, its restoration and further operation is likely to begin only after the end of the war.

This was stated by the first deputy mayor of Mykolaiv, Vitalii Lukov, in a commentary to NikVesti.

According to him, the city authorities are currently preparing documents to transfer the building to municipal ownership.

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«Yesterday or the day before yesterday, I signed the documents to ensure that there is an acceptance certificate. We were approached by the bank to draw up the acceptance certificate. In fact, we are now at the stage of completing this case. The documents are being drawn up. The payment has been made, everything is fine,» said Vitalii Lukov.

However, it is impossible to use the facility in its current state — first, it is necessary to carry out major repairs, for which the local budget does not have funds. The status of the building as a historical monument is an additional complication for the repairs.

«It is a historical monument, which imposes a huge number of restrictions, additional approvals and additional costs. Therefore, it will be a difficult object, and I think we will not return to it until the war is over. It will be mothballed. Most likely, in its current state. Given the budget prospects, that's the way it is,» said Vitalii Lukov.

He also admitted that the purchase of the «tram substation» was an expensive decision for the city.

«As for me, an efficient business in compliance with the law would probably be more appropriate here. Well, the community chose this option. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's a rather expensive acquisition for the city,» said Vitalii Lukov.

Earlier, Raiffeisen Bank said that it plans to complete the sale of the historic tram substation to Mykolaiv by the end of the year.

Prior to that, Olena Kiseliova, head of the «European Solidarity» faction and chair of the Mykolaiv City Council's Standing Committee on Publicity, Legality and Deputy Ethics, independently developed and submitted a draft decision to approve the intention to acquire the historic building as city property during the city council session on 27 March. This decision was made despite the fact that earlier the City Council Secretary Dmytro Falko claimed that «there was nothing to talk about», as most deputies did not support this initiative.

History of the first tram substation in Mykolaiv

The building of the power substation. Photo: Mykolaiv Regional Archive

It is known that the first tram substation in Mykolaiv was built in the early 20th century. In the 1970s, they tried to demolish the building to widen Lenin Avenue (now Tsentralnyi Avenue, — note) and build an underground passage.

However, thanks to the efforts of local architects and activists, including architect Olha Popova, the building was preserved and included in the list of architectural monuments. In 1973, the building received a new use — a cafe «Sadko» was opened in it.

In the early 2000s, the building attracted the attention of Serhii Prudkyi, director of the Mykolaiv branch of «Aval», who initiated the placement of a bank branch within its walls. After reconstruction, the building was purchased and adapted for a new use.

Sale of a historic building on Soborna Street

As you know, on 9 February, the building of the first tram substation at 8a Soborna Street was put up for sale with a starting price of just 3.5 million hryvnias.

According to the head of Mykolaiv's Department of Culture, Yurii Liubarov, the owner of the building approached the mayor's office with a proposal to purchase the building before the auction was announced, but Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych refused, citing a lack of funds.

Subsequently, NikVesti asked Serhii Prudkyi, an honorary citizen of Mykolaiv and member of the executive committee, who was once a bank director and bought the building for «Aval», what he thought about the possibility of the city buying the property. He replied that the Department of Culture should now look for opportunities to purchase the building for 3.5 million hryvnias in order to preserve the architectural monument for the people of Mykolaiv.

In particular, Tetiana Dombrovska, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council and head of the «Servant of the People» faction, is of the opinion that the historic tram substation building on Soborna Street should be bought in the interests of the city community.

And Mykola Kapatsyna, co-owner of the shipyard «Ocean» and a member of the Mykolaiv City Council, said he was ready to allocate 1 million hryvnias to buy the building for the city along with others.

Artem Iliuk said that the city authorities should have involved the deputies in the purchase of the property.

At the same time, musician, volunteer and chairman of the supervisory board of the NGO «DOF» Volodymyr Aleksieiev supported the idea of raising 3.5 million hryvnias to buy the building of the first tram substation in the centre of Mykolaiv. He proposed to combine social and commercial uses in the building, which would bring benefits to the city and maintain the historic building.