The story of the Wagner Center begins in 2009. The center, originally known as the Morskaya Stolica, was built to accommodate the headquarters of RosStroyInvest (RSTI), a construction company based in St. Petersburg. According to reports at the time, the company acquired the plot in 2009, and obtained a building permit in 2013. During this time, the developer of the project was Baltinvestroy, a company part of the RSTI network.
The center is meant to outwardly resemble a ship, containing a 23 story tower and another 15 story tower, with a bridge connecting the two. A low rise area, the ship’s “bow”, was also included as part of the project. The 15 story tower was meant to house a hotel, and the 23 story tower was originally intended to be a business center. The low rise building was meant to house an antenatal clinic, a health center, and the offices of RSTI. The center also contains an underground parking area.
The Wagner Center in February 2022
Source: t.me/centrwagner
In 2017, RSTI began considering the sale of the project, as the company had moved its headquarters to 17 Dobrolyubov Avenue, the current location. When construction was halted, the building was 70 percent completed. RSTI was unable to find a buyer for the project at the time.
The center under construction
Source: citywalls.ru
In December 2019, the center was sold to JSC Reteil, a real estate company owned by Evgeny Prigozhin. Records show that the company was founded on June 28, 2019. The first CEO of the company was Vladimir Valerievich Kalyaev. Ownership of the company was transferred to Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin on November 9, 2022. In 2022, the company reported that its total net revenue was -15,151,000 rubles. A sign at the construction site of the current Wagner Center showed that the general contractor was a company called “SZSK” LLC.
A sign at the construction site
Source: citywalls.ru
Multiple companies are currently registered at the address of the PMC Wagner center, including JSC Reteil. The Wagner Center itself is also registered as a company at the address as the JSC “PMC Wagner Center”. The company was registered on December 27, 2022, with Alexey Sergeevich Puzidarov listed as the CEO.
On November 4, the Wagner Center was opened for business, even though the Gosstroynadzor (State Building Control) of St. Petersburg had not issued a permit for the commissioning of the center, a decision that was later revoked. The official Telegram channel of the center stated the following about the purpose of the center:
“PMC Wagner Center has opened in St. Petersburg, a free office and production site for companies and start-ups whose work is aimed at strengthening the defense and scientific power of Russia. According to the residents of PMC Wagner Center, the main goal of the project is to gather talented people who are not indifferent to the future of Russia. Due to the close interaction between the participants of the “Center”, there is a rapid cooperation around new products or processes. And most importantly, among the leaders and residents of the center there is always an interested party that is ready to try, criticize, and suggest something new. Now every novelty, every new software product or material is especially valuable for the success of our country. In the near future, the most daring projects, promising and effective ideas will have the opportunity to win special grants for their further development.”
The purpose of the center was to serve as a space to spread Wagner’s influence and not as a direct operational command center. Companies and individuals could apply for office space and funding from Wagner on the site wagnercentr.ru.The Wagner Center has also hosted multiple events such as hacking competitions, art competitions, speeches and youth events.
The center renamed itself to the original name of Morskaya Stolica in January 2023, and is currently leasing out office space unrelated to the Wagner Center’s activities. A website of the project, Morskayastolica.ru, contains leasing applications as well as the floorplan of the center. A Youtube channel linked on the website has posted 360 degree tours of the center as recently as June 14, 2023. The channel also contains videos advertising other construction projects, such as the Business Box office center and the Sinop business center, both located in St. Petersburg.
Both the website and Youtube channel contain no visible markings of Wagner logos and do not mention any relationship with the Wagner Group or the Wagner Center.
During the night of June 23-24, the Wagner Center was raided by Russian police forces following Priogzhin’s attempted coup.
UPDATE: JULY 4, 2023
The “PMC Wagner Center” sign was removed from the building on July 1.
UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 13, 2023
The PMC Wagner Center has remained inactive and is currently being leased as office space. The project is still owned by JSC Reteil.