The Russian newspaper Kommersant Daily on Tuesday reported Moscow vice mayor Vladimir Resin as saying that during Trump's visit to Moscow in November, the city had offered the real-estate mogul a role in reconstructing the shabby and oft-berated Rossia and Moskva hotels. The city has long been seeking investors to update the facilities.
But David Geovanis, the director of real estate for Liggett-Ducat, played down the report. "With regard to specific projects, everything is in the preliminary discussion stage," he said.
"We have discussed these developments with the city, but on a very preliminary basis, that the city and Trump are interested in redeveloping those hotels, as well as a whole slew of other developments in Moscow," he said.
Liggett-Ducat is a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Brooke Group Ltd., through which Trump has been exploring potential real-estate investments in Russia.
Trump said during his November visit that he intended to build two "super-luxury residential towers" in Moscow. He also spoke of "other ideas we want to explore" with the city government, but declined to elaborate.
Trump's assistant in New York, Norma Foerderer, said she had received the Kommersant Daily report but was unable to comment on it.
The city government has estimated it needs $250 million to reconstruct the Rossia, a Soviet-era behemoth of more than 3,000 rooms near Red Square.
Timothy Fenwick, general director of Global A.B.M.P./Jones Lang Wootton realtors, said the cost of building a new furnished four-star hotel, complete with restaurants and other common areas, would break down to about $250,000 per room. A five-star hotel could run up to $350,000 per room, he said.
Rebuilding an existing hotel to those same standards could potentially cost even more, he said.
One Moscow hotel-industry observer, who asked not to be identified, said that for Trump to rebuild both the Moskva and Rossia at the same time "would be a pretty crazy idea."
"Moscow has seen too many dream schemes already," the observer said. "I'd prefer to see someone come in and actually do something, with a little less talking."
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