Yaroslavl mayor explains why Central Market cannot be sold

Yaroslavl Mayor Artem Molchanov explained why the Central Market is not selling. The property was first put up for auction for 150.5 million rubles (approximately $1.5 million at current rates) in November 2025, but at that time no one was willing to buy it. The situation repeated in January 2026.

‘It feels like we need to get rid of the Central Market as quickly as possible,’ Artem Molchanov said indignantly at an open mayor’s meeting on February 3. ‘The property is being sold. No one sells such properties in three seconds. We are looking for a normal investor who should be engaged in modernizing the object.’

Discussions about the need to sell the Central Market began back in 2021. At that time, deputies and city residents opposed it. As a result, the mayor«s office abandoned the idea. However, a small part of the market’s premises on Nakhimson Street was sold to the firm ‘Gallery’.

In 2025, when considering the possibility of selling the market, Yaroslavl authorities noted that the object does not bring significant income to the budget. Mayor Artem Molchanov claimed that hundreds of millions of rubles in investments are required to bring the market into order. The city does not have such capabilities. For this reason, the authorities decided to sell the object to attract an investor ready to fix up the market.

According to the mayor, attracting an investor and selling the market could help achieve the goal of fixing up the historical center of Yaroslavl. Recall that the city has begun large-scale improvements and the creation of pedestrian streets. On the site of the market, cafes and restaurants may appear.