YEREVAN. – Any individual, or legal person, can take part in the auction for the Government of Armenia Building No.2—where the country’s Foreign Affairs, Energy and Natural Resources, and Territorial Administration Ministries currently function—and purchase it. Government-Affiliated State Property Management Department Head Arman Sahakyan told this to news reporters on Thursday.

In his words, any new buyer will have to construct a hotel, in lieu of the MFA building, but has to preserve its architectural exterior.    

“There is nothing extraordinary here. We just decided to auction off one-hundred percent of the property,” Sahakyan said. 

And if this building is not sold by auction, it will be given to Tango Company—which belongs to Argentinean-Armenian businessman Eduardo Eurnekian—for $51 million, and a preliminary sale agreement will be signed with the company.    

Arman Sahakyan added that the terms for the sale of the building were changed so as to make the respective process become more transparent and open.