Tyumen's Stroitel Cultural Center Faces Demolition or Restoration Decision
The future of the long-suffering Cultural Center «Stroitel» in Tyumen remains uncertain. There have been repeated talks about an imminent start to its reconstruction, but everything has stalled at the stage of allocating budget funds for this purpose. Restoring this cultural venue requires about 2 billion rubles (approximately $22 million). But the money is not there.
«Project documentation for the reconstruction [of this] building has been developed. The timeframe for the work will be determined after including this object in the draft regional budget for the next financial year and planning period, based on the availability of funds in the budget of Tyumen Oblast,» Alexander Sidorov, director of the regional department of culture, told 72.RU.
He also clarified that the question of a possible demolition of «Stroitel» (in order to build a new cultural center from scratch on this site — Ed.) does not fall under the competence of the culture department.
«To make an informed decision, it is necessary to conduct a detailed survey of the technical condition of the building and compare the costs of reconstruction and construction of a new facility,» summarized Alexander Sidorov.
Recall that the first information about this Palace of Culture closing for a large-scale reconstruction appeared back in autumn 2017. It was then planned that the cultural center would go under repair in 2018, and by 2021 all work would be completed. But that did not happen.
In summer of the same 2017, 14 million budget rubles (about $154,000) were allocated for developing the reconstruction project for «Stroitel». This very project passed state expertise in 2019 on the fourth attempt.
But neither then, nor several years later, did the reconstruction ever begin. In particular, in spring 2022, the repair was once again postponed to better times. They explained it simply: there is no money for it in the budget.
In summer 2023, money was indeed found, but not yet for the actual repair, rather for developing project documentation. And a contractor has already been selected, who for 4.3 million rubles (about $47,300) will thoroughly inspect the cultural center building.
Authorities also failed to find money for the cultural center repair in 2024. Then they cited that in the region [due to flooding] a state of emergency is in effect, and budget funds are primarily directed there. In 2025, they simply answered: there is no money for «Stroitel» — without explanation.
