#2 - JRL 7286
Moscow Times
August 12, 2003
For Sale: Yeltsin's Old Apartment
By Anna Dolgov
Special to The Moscow Times
Collectors of items like a dress worn by Princess Diana or a guitar played by Jimi Hendrix might be interested in the latest gem to hit the market: an apartment where Boris Yeltsin used to live.
No, it's certainly not his Kremlin quarters or even his dacha in Barvikha or the digs in the elite Krylatskoye district where the 72-year-old former president has his official address. Instead, it's a sprawling five-room apartment in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, where Yeltsin served as the local Communist Party boss before being transferred to Moscow in 1985.
A for-sale ad is posted on the web site of Yekaterinburg's Atomstroikompleks real estate agency with the red-letter headline: "Special offer! An apartment of the First President is for sale."
The current owner is a "private individual" who wishes to remain anonymous, an Atomstroikompleks agent said by telephone Monday.
The agent, who refused to give her name, would not give out the asking price for the apartment, saying it was being discussed individually with prospective buyers -- but only those who actually pay a visit to Yekaterinburg to view the property.
The agency's Internet ad extols the apartment's "panoramic view" over a city pond, the regional governor's residence, a movie theater and a dam. The 167-square-meter apartment is on the fourth floor of a six-story building and has sunlit rooms and four balconies, it says. The building has a quiet backyard, round-the-clock security guards, a swimming pool and a billiards room.
The Atomstroikompleks agent said the apartment is partially furnished. She would not say whether any of the furniture was once owned or used by Yeltsin.
Representatives of Yeltsin could not be reached for comment Monday.
Atomstroikompleks' phones have been ringing off the hook since the ad was posted on its web site in June, but most of the callers have been television reporters, the agent said.
Calls from potential buyers "come in between calls from television," she said. "But mostly it's calls from television."
Apartments in elite buildings in downtown Yekaterinburg typically fetch about $1,200 per square meter, according to local real estate agents. Prices for apartments at 1 Naberezhnaya Rabochei Molodyozhi -- where Yeltsin used to live -- tend to drop to about $1,000 per square meter because of the building's old-fashioned design and need for renovation, they said. But the connection with Yeltsin is likely to increase the price significantly.
Owning an apartment of a top Soviet-era official has become something of a fad among Russia's new rich -- and a source of big money for real estate agencies.
Offers for the rundown apartment of former Communist Party leader Yury Andropov on Moscow's Kutuzovsky Prospekt have soared into the millions of dollars from a starting price of $400,000, according to the Penny Lane real estate agency, which is managing the sale.
Even though more comfortable places can be found around town, wealthy Russians seem eager to grab bits of Communist Party and KGB history as "souvenirs," a Penny Lane spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the apartment of Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky was recently sold for $1.5 million. The 260-square-meter residence is in the so-called Marshals' House on Romanov Pereulok -- about halfway between the Kremlin and the Defense Ministry.
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