Property mogul Telman Ismailov, who left Russia last year after his Cherkizovsky Market was shut in a politically tinged crackdown, may be planning a return to Russia to build a new luxury hotel.
Ismailov is looking to bring the Mardan Palace chain to Moscow, Sochi and Istanbul, said Cumhur Ozen, head of the company's hotel in Antalya.
"The spot for the Moscow hotel has been designated. Construction will start soon. We are still seeking a location in Sochi and Istanbul. Each of them will be as magnificent as our hotel in Antalya," he said, the Hurriyet Daily News newspaper reported last week.
A receptionist who answered the phone at the Mardan Palace in Antalya on Tuesday said neither Ozen nor spokespeople for him were immediately available to comment. A spokeswoman for City Hall's construction department could not immediately confirm that a location had been selected for a Mardan Palace hotel in Moscow.
Ismailov opened the 560-room Mardan Palace hotel in Antalya, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast in May, hosting celebrities including Paris Hilton and Richard Gere, as well as Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and his wife, Yelena Baturina.
The resort reportedly cost $1.2 billion to build and charges up to 15,120 euros ($21,300) per night for its best rooms.
Shortly thereafter, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly asked why no one had been arrested for $2 billion in contraband found at Cherkizovsky in 2008. The comments prompted a crackdown that ultimately saw the sprawling bazaar in eastern Moscow shut down for safety violations.
Putin appeared to confirm suspicions that the show of opulence had been ill timed.
"I don't see any crime here — the question is whether it is done legally," Putin said in December in response to a question about the hotel opening. "If there are resources for investment, it wouldn't be bad to realize them in Russia. For example, one could invest money into building hotels in Sochi for the 2014 Olympics."
It remains to be seen, however, whether the comments were an invitation back or a warning to others. Ismailov has steered clear of Russia since Cherkizovsky was shuttered.
Citing sources close to Ismailov's AST Group, RIA-Novosti reported Tuesday that the businessman planned to return to Moscow by the end of the month to take up projects in Moscow and Sochi. But a source close to the Ismailov family denied that report, saying he was focused on his Turkish projects, Interfax reported.
The source close to Ismailov's family told Interfax that the developments attributed to him in Moscow and Sochi no longer had "anything to do with him" and would be developed by other companies.
It was unclear whether the source was referring to new projects or to Ismailov's finished properties, which include Moscow landmarks like the Leningradskaya hotel and the Praga restaurant.
The Moscow Times was not able to reach AST, which does not list any contact information on its web site.
It is unlikely that Mardan Palace would build the same kind of hotel in Moscow, said Stanislav Ivashkevich, associate director of the hospitality department at CB Richard Ellis. "There is no sense in building the same kind of resort. It would be three times more expensive in Moscow," he said.
There are still sites for a five-star hotel in central Moscow, most notably the undeveloped Golden Island, across the Moscow River from the Kremlin, Ivashkevich added.
Ismailov could also be planning a return to the retail market in the Moscow region, the RBK Daily newspaper reported Monday. His son Alekper Ismailov is in talks between AST Group and the regional government to purchase 50 hectares to build a new market, the report said.
The press secretary for the Moscow region’s economic department could not confirm whether the region was in talks with AST because she was not authorized to talk to the press. She referred a reporter to the region’s communications department.
A representative of the communications department’s secretariat said he was not authorized to comment and that he did not remember any press contacts within the department.