An investor from Russia has acquired the former winery on Pokrovskaya Street in Vitebsk

The site of the former winery on Pokrovskaya Street, 7 in Vitebsk was one of the largest industrial facilities in the Vitebsk region, which had been vacant for over 7 years.

The complex of winery buildings is located in the historical part of the city, in the area where Chagall once lived.

Analysis of archival documents indicates that the Vitebsk winery was established on the basis of an existing oil production enterprise at this location. In 1898, with the permission of the provincial government, the Nizhny Novgorod merchant's son Leyba Shmerkov Mnukhin and the Vitebsk merchant Abram Leybov Sverdlіn built a brick factory with a steam engine for the production of vegetable oil from hemp, flax, and other seeds.

During a fire on April 13, 1904, two buildings burned down. One housed a steam boiler, and the other was a seed warehouse. The buildings were subsequently restored.

It should be noted that throughout 1913–1915, local residents repeatedly complained to the provincial government about the factory owners Mnukhin and Sverdlіn, stating that the roar of machinery, the smell, and the suffocating gas disturbed the peace and quiet in the area, and that sparks flying from the diesel engine's chimney could cause another fire.

Subsequently, the oil mill was converted into a winery. Before the Great Patriotic War, it produced 100 thousand decaliters of wine, 50 thousand decaliters of juices, 20 tons of extract, and 200 tons of jam. The factory operated even during the German occupation, producing small quantities of wine and water.

In the post-war years, production capacities were significantly increased, with 150 thousand decaliters of fruit and berry wine and 100 thousand decaliters of grape wine produced annually.

To this day, the administrative and economic building has survived with significant loss of its historical appearance. The main changes occurred in the post-war period. After reconstruction, an office, a club, and a canteen were added. The building is an example of Vitebsk's civil construction of the late 19th – early 20th century.

 

Following the liquidation of the winery in 2017, an unused complex of facilities remained in state ownership, which includes an administrative building with the status of a 3rd category historical and cultural value object.

Also located here are two production buildings, an oatmeal cookie workshop, a wine storage facility, an alcohol storage facility, a warehouse, a checkpoint, and utility networks. The total area of the capital structures is over 5000 sq.m.

Over the past years, the winery was unsuccessfully put up for auction 12 times – no buyers were found.

On November 25, the object was put up for auction again, with an 80% reduction in the sale price. As a result, for 462 thousand rubles, the former winery was acquired by an investor from the Russian Federation.

The new owner has been granted a land plot of almost 2 hectares.

The investor plans to restore the historical appearance of the block, with public-purpose premises on the first floors and an apartment complex on the second floors. The buyer will be ready to provide more details in the future after all design work has been approved.

This object became the 106th sold by the committee at auctions this year. The state budget was replenished by 6.728 million rubles, which significantly exceeds the amount received for the same period last year.