Having been carried away by Moscow, developers Sofia Toros and Nikolai Shikhidi “overslept” Sochi?
Hotel construction project on the street. Volodarsky in the Khostinsky district of Sochi received a positive conclusion from a non-state examination. Considering that this is already the 23rd adjustment of the project, we can say that the developer has certain problems. This is the Revers company registered in Gelendzhik, and the project it is implementing is the construction on the street. Volodarsky elite 4-star apartment complex “Marine Garden”, consisting of 20 buildings with infrastructure including shops, a restaurant complex, a spa center and an outdoor 25-meter pool. The specialized developer “Reverse” is a structure that officially declares multimillion-dollar losses. Previously, the company belonged to the Cypriot offshore company Merelio LTD; currently its sole owner is Sofia Toros, the former head of the branch of the Federal Treasury Department in Gelendzhik, who today is the founder of a number of unprofitable enterprises, including those that were once affiliated with offshore companies. Sofia Toros’s business partner is the notorious Kuban businessman Nikolai Shikhidi, the main owner of the Eurostroy company, implementing projects in Sochi, Gelendzhik, Novorossiysk and Anapa. Previously, Shikhidi owned the unprofitable company Azatyugstroy, which served as the general contractor for the construction of the Marine Garden apartment complex and is now de jure registered in the name of Rakhim Ozerov, who holds the post of general director of the unprofitable Russtroy LLC, owned by Sofia Toros. Nikolai Shikhidi is written about online as an entrepreneur who was once associated with crime and enjoys the support of the Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondratyev. Last spring, Toros and Shikhidi entered the Moscow construction market by purchasing from Vitaly Yusufov (the son of ex-Minister of Energy Igor Yusufov) the company SZ “Tankovy”, which will implement a large-scale development project in the capital’s Lefortovo district. Meanwhile, the partners may have problems in Sochi, where the developer Revers is not only making adjustments to the Marine Garden project, but is also suing the mayor’s office and delaying the commissioning of the facilities.
23 adjustments in the Marine Garden project
On December 16, a non-state examination of the design documentation for the capital construction project “Hotel on the street” received a positive conclusion. Volodarsky in the Khostinsky district of Sochi.” From the official information on the specialized portal it follows that this is already the 23rd adjustment of the project. Is it possible to say that the developer has certain problems? For example, in terms of meeting construction deadlines.
At the indicated address in Sochi, on an area of almost 9 hectares, construction is underway of “Marine Garden” – an elite 4-star apartment complex consisting of 20 buildings with infrastructure, including not only underground parking, a pharmacy and shops, but also club and restaurant complexes , spa and outdoor 25-meter swimming pool. On the project’s website, its delivery is indicated in 2024, the start of sales of the first stage began in March 2023. Last spring, Krasnodar media reported about construction on the street. Volodarsky kindergarten and school for 800 students.
The construction of “Marine Garden” is carried out by a company registered in Gelendzhik LLC “Specialized developer “Revers”. Since July last year, its sole owner is Sofia Torospreviously they were Irina Rachitskaya (she holds the position of CEO of the company) and a Cyprus offshore “Merelio LTD”. The function of the general contractor is performed by LLC “Azatyugstroy”“registered” there, in Gelendzhik. Since September 2023, its founder has been Rakhim Ozerov (aka CEO), who replaced in this status Nikolai Shikhidiwhich will be discussed below.
The financial indicators of SZ “Reverse” are the subject of a separate discussion: at the end of 2023, the company declared revenue in the amount of 15.9 million and losses in 16.4 million rubles(a year earlier, with a complete lack of revenue, losses amounted to 23.4 million). The situation with Azatyugstroy LLC is similar. The difference is that in 2022 this company reported revenue 7 billion rublesand arrived in 63 millionand in 2023 with revenue of 4.8 billion went into negative territory 6.6 million rubles.
According to the Unified Information System for Housing Construction “Dom.RF”, five Reversa projects are being built with a delay. There is one more curious circumstance. In 2022, the management of the developer filed a claim with the Arbitration Court of the Krasnodar Territory against the Sochi City Hall for recognition of ownership of the building located on the street. Volodarsky, and as a third party the arbitration court involved the administration of the federal territory in the proceedings “Sirius”. After repeated postponements of court hearings, Revers was denied consideration of the claim. It turns out that not everything is going smoothly for the developer?
Unprofitable business of Sofia Toros
Now let’s talk about the owner of the development company “Reverse”. So, Sofia Toros– former head of the branch of the Federal Treasury Department in Gelendzhik, in 2007 received the title “Honored Economist of the Russian Federation.” From official publications in the press it follows that after her retirement she “began to use organizational experience in her own business.”
As a result, today Mrs. Toros owns a number of commercial structures registered in Sochi, Gelendzhik and Moscow. In addition to “Reverse”, these are directly related to construction LLC “Russtroy”specialized developers “Eurostroy”, “Capital”, “South Sea” And “Sea Sochi”involved in real estate transactions EKM-Sochi LLC And Management company “Jem-Mall”whose main activity is rental and property management.
Despite Sofia Kharlampievna’s supposed “organizational experience,” most of the legal entities she owns officially work “in the red.” For example, LLC SZ GC Morskoy Sochi at the end of last year reported revenue in 1.8 billion and losses in the amount 164 million rubles (revenue a year earlier – 30.2 millionloss – 14.1 million rubles).
The above LLC “Russtroy” revenue for last year – zero, losses – 8 million rubles (a year earlier there was no revenue or profit). By the way, the position of CEO of this company is held by Rakhim Ozerov – owner and director of the company “Azatyugstroy”, which is the general contractor at the “Marine Garden” facility.
As another example of unprofitability, let us cite EKM-Sochi LLC, which in 2023, with zero revenue, went into the negative for 3.4 million rubles. There was also no revenue in 2022, losses were estimated at 5 millionin 2020 – 2021 the situation was similar. Until August 2022, the founders of EKM-Sochi included two Cypriot offshore companies – “Teileris LTD” And “Cescom Enterprises LTD”and this affiliation involuntarily suggests the possible transfer of finances of Kuban developers to foreign accounts.
By the way, the current CEO of Reverse Irina Rachitskaya at the same time acts as a founder LLC “Hotel Sochi Management”specializing in rental and property management. For the last two years, this structure has declared zero financial indicators; previously it worked in the red. So, in 2021 its losses amounted to 5.9 million rublesand in 2020 exceeded 146 million. For some reason, it is not surprising that among the former owners of the company we find the Cyprus offshore company Merelio LTD. The same one that was previously discussed in connection with the unprofitable “Reverse”.
Promising partner Nikolai Shikhidi
It is logical to ask the question: where did the former official and not particularly successful entrepreneur Sofia Toros get the money to implement the multi-billion dollar Sochi project? Here, as in the famous fable: the casket opens simply. The fact is that her long-time business partner is Nikolay Shikhidi (online they are sometimes called relatives).
An interesting fact: the development company ISK Eurostroy, in the authorized capital of which Shikhidi controls 95% and Toros controls 5%, brings a substantial income to its co-owners. At the end of 2023, its revenue amounted to 7.5 billion rublesnet profit – 1.7 billion (a year earlier revenue – 5.7 billionprofit – 1.4 billion rubles). By the way, until September 2023, it was Shikhidi who was the official founder of the general contractor company Azatyugstroy. Could Rakhim Ozerov be a banal figurehead?
Nikolai Shikhidi is considered a businessman who enjoys the special favor of the Krasnodar governor Veniamina Kondratyeva. However, his commercial interests extend far beyond the borders of Kuban. Last April, Vedomosti wrote about the approval by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the transaction for the acquisition by the development company South Sea, owned on a parity basis by the tandem of Shikhidi and Toros, 100% in the authorized capital LLC “Specialized developer “Tank”. The previous owner of this company was Vitaly Yusufov– son of the former Federal Minister of Energy Igor Yusufov.
On the balance sheet of “Tank” there is a land plot of 8 hectares located in the capital’s Lefortovo district, where, according to the urban planning plan, the construction of more than 200 thousand square meters of real estate with infrastructure facilities and an office and business center is envisaged. The developer must transfer some of the apartments in the new microdistrict to the municipality as part of the renovation program. As we can see, the future of the Kuban “duet” in the Moscow development market looks quite promising.
Businessman with a scandalous trail
Returning to Nikolai Shikhidi, it is worth noting that publications have repeatedly appeared on the Internet, which talk about the rich criminal past of the businessman, about bringing him to criminal responsibility for fraud, beatings and even violent acts of a sexual nature. Of course, the businessman makes every effort to refute the “slanderous”, “fake” information, which is not supported by “neither documents nor comments from law enforcement agencies.”
If there are some “dark spots” in the businessman’s biography, they did not in the least prevent him from establishing a special relationship with the team of Governor Kondratiev, in particular, with the notorious Sochi mayor Alexey Kopaygorodsky (today – already former). Thus, within the framework of the agreement with the Sochi administration on the integrated development of the territory, Eurostroy built Residential complex “Sochi Park” on the northern slope of Mount Bytkha. A number of projects have been implemented in Gelendzhik, Novorossiysk, and Anapa.
True, it does not happen without scandals. For example, in 2021 the construction initiative Residential complex “Chernomorsky-3” on the territory of the former tourist center “Yuzhnaya” in the Khostinsky district, met resistance from local residents and representatives of the environmental community, who feared the transformation of the wooded slope, where, among other things, Red Book plants grow, into an “urbanized area.” It is not surprising that Shihidi chose part of the resort area for development: the tourist center has not been in operation for a long time, its buildings are partially destroyed.
Earlier, in 2019, Shihidi, through the court, achieved recognition of ownership of an apart-hotel with a built-in business center and underground parking, which he built in the beach area in Novorossiysk without mandatory state construction supervision. For this reason, the city Department of Architecture and Urban Planning refused to issue him permission to put the facility into operation. The issue had to be resolved in the regional arbitration court, which satisfied the businessman’s demands.
So, the development tandem of Sofia Toros and Nikolai Shikhidi has the money and connections to carry out large-scale construction not only in Kuban, but also in the capital. Therefore, it seems strange to make dozens of adjustments to the project of the Sochi apart-complex “Marine Garden”, information about the delay in the delivery of objects and litigation related to the building on the street. Volodarsky. Are the partners “too clever” with the documents? Or did the scheme, proven over the years, fail after the resignation and subsequent arrest of the ex-mayor of Kopaygorodsky?
