On 10 September 2015, the owners of units in the building at 4b Shtemenko Street filed a petition with the arbitration court. This marks the start of bankruptcy proceedings and the introduction of court-supervised administration.
On 8 September 2015, on Theater Square, in front of the Drama Theater building in Nizhny Novgorod, a picket was held by shareholders (dolshchiki) of SU-155, who were troubled by the combination of two facts — construction of the buildings in which the owners had bought apartments through shared-equity construction had not been under way for several months; and SU-155 was in a pre-bankruptcy state (arbitration administration was being prepared, following a series of lawsuits in various regions).
The essence of the phenomenon
After the first appointed governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region — Valery Shantsev, who had a direct connection to SU-155, came to power, land plots in the city began to be allocated by the organization "Investsovet" (Investment Council). As a developer, SU-155 began receiving plots from the Investsovet in locations that residents found convenient, such as the "Bely Gorod" quarter in Kuznechikha and Ukrainskaya Street near the Metro station "Leninskaya" and Komsomolskoye Highway. Apartment buildings began going up in these locations, with relatively small units (40–60 square meters), of 1–2 rooms. The company collected owners' money in advance, while the buildings were still "at the excavation-pit stage." After several buildings were completed, construction stopped, and the completion deadlines have been regularly pushed back — judging by the documents the company gives owners as reassurance.
Warnings from other regions
It is curious that more than six months earlier (this was not the first time SU-155 had found itself in a pre-bankruptcy state), Moscow activists had already been calling on Nizhny Novgorod owners of apartments in unfinished buildings to take part in public actions over the company's missed construction deadlines, but at the time Nizhny Novgorod residents responded coolly to the idea. This was probably shaped by the assessment of Governor Shantsev's performance formed by the Nizhny Novgorod Media, and by the low level of civic energy among Nizhny Novgorod residents, a characteristic "tradition" dating back to the early years of Soviet power in the region.
A young family, building on Ukrainskaya Street
- What conditions would satisfy you?
- Just for the building to be finished, that's it. We have nowhere to live — we're renting apartments. Our apartment is on a mortgage. We were drawn in by the low prices. But they aren't really low prices, since the apartment has no finishing and there's still a lot of work to be done.
- What attracted you most to this housing?
- The good location and layout. For example, «Zhilstroy-NN»'s housing is small, very tiny apartments. The kitchen — 5 square meters. The room — 16 square meters. And mostly they're just studios, also 16 square meters. People move in as families of 3-4 and live crammed into these little rooms. So compared to them, SU-155's housing was popular.
- And what type of apartments are there?
- One-bedrooms and two-bedrooms. That's in the first building.
- What size?
- The one-bedrooms are 40 square meters, the two-bedrooms 57. Plus a proper loggia, 3 meters, not 1.5 like at «Zhilstroy». But «Zhilstroy» also has other, more expensive housing.
- And which other developers did you compare it with, for convenience?
- «Oikumena», «Zhilstroy», «Start-stroy»… But there the price tag was completely different. For example, «Podkova» — there the building's finish is expensive, small bricks.
- What did you like about the location?
- Within walking distance of the metro, Park of the First of May, «Lokomotiv»… Of course, the area has grown wild by now, in a year.
- And did you have thoughts about the risk? You bought at the excavation-pit stage, or even before there was a pit?
- Not quite. Some floors were already built. There were already three floors. But some people did buy at the pit stage. At first they were putting up three floors a month. So the outlook was good.
- And did you consider the suburbs as a housing option?
- To live in the suburbs you need your own car, plus you'd be stuck in traffic.
- Isn't everyone stuck in traffic now anyway?
- There — every day. Morning and evening. A car has a way of breaking down, and relying only on it… Or running for the bus on schedule. That's an hour and a half of your life. Yes, such options existed. But there you'd still need to do the interior finishing. And then the bank — they review mortgages. And if you're planning to build a house yourself — they won't give you one. And here, most of the apartments were bought on a mortgage, by people of average means.
- The banking system is in a difficult state right now. If construction stops — what will you do? - Depends on the circumstances. Maybe tear down the remains of the unfinished floor, and put on a roof.
Young sturdy guys with a poster "we're counting on government help," the "Bely Gorod" quarter
- Your poster says «we're counting on the government». Which government are you counting on? The regional one? The general one?
- The government of Russia. It's just written small. Like Tele2's — «we are honest people».
- But hasn't part of the quarter in Kuznechikha been built?
- Yes, building 6, 5a… actually, quite a lot of buildings were built. When «Bely Gorod» started selling, 5 buildings went up. Three of them have been put into operation. Six buildings are built, half of them handed over.
SU-155 is a very sore subject all across Russia. Literally a month ago I went to Kostroma. And there's a lonely gray little building standing there. Like «Bely Gorod» before it was painted. I immediately ask my guide, a colleague of mine: «Who's the developer?» — «SU-155». And the crane's boom sways in the wind like that. Not a soul around. And the building just stands in a field.
- What was your motivation when you bought? Why did you choose it, compared to others?
- The price. Everyone chased the price. And the location. The infrastructure was already built there.
- Did the governor's reputation have anything to do with the choice?
- No, we didn't even look into it. But we all «hoped in the almighty» — and then in Shantsev. And construction did start off fairly briskly. And a lot of people bought for commercial purposes, because prices were rising back then. But from that year on everything went downhill. Still they kept building, first in Verkhniye Pechyory, on Bogdanovicha Street. And a lot of people made decent money, buying cheap and reselling after completion. And then, a year later, it turned out that the ventilated facade ventilates itself separately from the building, comes loose a little — rattles, bangs. But nevertheless — the money was made. And they decided to try making money once more. But we personally didn't buy for commercial purposes.
- What will you do, depending on the situation? Those apartments that you actually paid for — are they completely unfinished?
- There's a start. Three slabs are standing there.
- And what do you plan to do if the process comes to a complete halt?
- I think the process, in principle, shouldn't stop. I think as long as Volodya Putin doesn't pay attention to us, nothing will move. They'll roll out something pretty, they'll say: «We'll build a bridge to Bor» — «What about 'Bely Gorod'?» — «In the first five-year plan we'll build the bridge to Bor. With a southern bypass. And you just hang in there. What's left here, anyway?». Honestly, right now the priority is… I really do love Crimea.
- And what tactics do you have in mind?
- We need to attract attention. Especially since the elections are just around the corner.
- They've been around the corner for a while now. Didn't you think about starting to act sooner?
- Every one of us here has already accumulated a whole cartload of promises from the developer. That's what kept everyone going. It got hot, people made some noise, and calmed down. Because Valera Shantsev came out. Take building 5a. There Gorbachev provided construction schedules. Nicely drawn up. At a meeting with Valera he got told off. Everything looked nice, in principle. So everyone hoped, as usual, that by 1 September everyone would be happy. The buildings would be painted, the cranes moved. And from '16 they'd finally finish these three towers. But then the plant in Kstovo launches, and they said: «Guys, well, just wait one more month. You've waited three years, what's left now». And it's the same thing again. Completely empty words. And they promise mountains of gold, rivers of milk and honey. We're just probably «too kind». Well put.
A family with children, young teachers, "Bely Gorod"
- Your poster shows a pyramid made of money, and employees, presumably of SU-155? What is that? A history? A schematic?
- A brief history of what's happened over this year and a half. Nothing more. They took a lot of money, and the result…
- The main thing is that you believe it actually exists, in principle.
- Well, at least there's a foundation. They've dug the pit. Either way we have nowhere else to go, we've already bought. SU-155 is going bankrupt, yet the buildings keep being built. Bankruptcy proceedings have now officially begun. So basically — they took the money, and into bankruptcy. And we're left with nothing. It's a kind of lottery that so far hasn't gone our way.
- And how do you picture events unfolding?
- We have no choice. We probably won't be able to squeeze the money back, all that's left is to hope that all of it gets finished. If the state really takes this on… We'd like that to be the case. We do believe it, of course.
- And if things do go the negative way, how do you plan your actions?
- We don't want to think about the bad. What can you do? Earn money for a new apartment.
- When is the court session? Have you filed the documents already?
- It hasn't been scheduled yet. But soon, October–November. For those who filed their letters first, the hearing is on 13 October. Ours is sometime around November. Each shareholder (dolshchik) wrote a letter on their own behalf.
- What was your motivation when buying?
- We just wanted to save money. We're not rich people, we're both teachers. And here was such a nice price, for a decent-sized apartment — we paid around two and a half million for a two-bedroom apartment. At that time, for that money, we definitely couldn't have bought a two-bedroom elsewhere.
- Didn't you consider alternative options?
- At the time, even a one-bedroom apartment in the neighborhood where we'd have preferred to live, where we work, cost more.
- So the main criterion for you was the neighborhood?
- Yes. Kuznechikha — Soviet Square — Beketov Street.
60% of ours, the down payment, was in cash. The rest we took as a mortgage. They don't give teachers a big mortgage either. Because that's what the salaries there are like. So we took «what we could afford». And it turned out to be the ideal option for that money. We decided — well, we'll wait.
- There are people who bought country estates in the suburbs for money like that, did you not consider that option?
- We looked at townhouses — only the ones near Kuznechikha. And we didn't like the legal situation there. A multi-story building was registered there as individual housing construction.
- Multi-story?
- Two or three stories. It's being built, but on a plot where only one individual house can be built. Where one family is allowed to live. I didn't dig into it too deeply. I read a bit on the surface, and it scared me. Everything's fine there, but the paperwork question… it turns out any developer can come along, buy that land, and demolish everything on more or less legal grounds.
- Yes, I know a story like that in Volgograd.
- We would gladly live in a house like that, if it were all cleanly formalized legally. But there, it turns out, we'd have bought a piece of land for 2.5 million, 2 hundredths of a hectare. And what would be left is a plot worth 100,000 rubles.
What we saw for that money that we actually liked is far away. Getting to work and back every day. And then — a small child, school. That's not realistic.