Court Rejects Developer Over Street Lighting on Vavilova

The Arbitration Court rejected Rostovskoye JSC«s claims against the administration of Rostov-on-Don and Oktyabrsky District. The company, which is developing the Suvorovsky residential area, insisted on declaring the street lighting networks along Vavilova Street ownerless and forcing their transfer to municipal ownership.

The dispute concerned outdoor lighting lines with a total length of over 4.5 kilometers. They cover a section of Vavilova Street from the intersections with Petrenko and Sosnovaya streets, as well as a bike path and one children«s playground.

The construction of these networks was carried out by Nika Specialized Developer LLC (OOO SZ ISK Nika) from Anapa. It, like Rostovskoye JSC, is part of the Kuban group of companies VKB Novostroyki. Both organizations claim that the lighting facilities do not belong to them because they were built as part of a comprehensive territorial development program and serve public spaces rather than apartment buildings.

Rostovskoye JSC is registered in Krasnodar Krai. For 2024, the company«s revenue amounted to 194.6 million rubles (approximately $2.14 million at current rates), and net profit was 16,000 rubles (about $176). According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRUL), 86.5% of the authorized capital belongs to Kubanskaya Marka JSC (SZ Kubanskaya Marka). The general director of both companies is Marat Stepura. Kubanskaya Marka»s revenue in 2024 reached nearly 2.2 billion rubles (approximately $24.2 million), with net profit of about 500 million rubles (about $5.5 million).

In the lawsuit, Rostovskoye insisted that the lighting is ownerless and that the administration is obliged to take it onto its balance sheet. «Believing that the administration»s inaction, expressed in its failure to fulfill the obligation to register ownerless property and accept it into municipal ownership, is unlawful, the company filed the claims in question,« the document states.

City officials objected that the facilities cannot be considered ownerless. Since the construction was financed by Nika, it remains the owner. It was noted that Nika had previously tried to transfer the networks to the city but did not provide the necessary documents and also failed to correct discrepancies with technical requirements and the project. The administration is ready to accept the property only after all defects are fixed.

In court, it was emphasized that there is an established procedure for transferring property to municipal ownership, and Rostovskoye«s lawsuit was an attempt to bypass it. The court agreed with this position and rejected the developer»s claims.

Earlier, Deputy Director of the Rostov Department of Housing and Communal Services Artem Arutyunyan explained that the city does plan to take the disputed facilities onto its balance sheet, but strictly according to the established procedure — after previous owners rectify all defects. According to him, Rostovskoye is trying to get rid of these assets to avoid bearing the costs of their maintenance.