Historic houses are being demolished on Haidar Abashidze Street in Batumi. LLC Ecoline plans to construct a new multi-apartment residential building at the site. One hundred percent of the company’s shares belong to LLC Batmsheni, whose owner is Roin Dumbadze, a donor to the ruling Georgian Dream party. Between 2023 and 2025, Roin Dumbadze donated 118,000 GEL to the party.
The new project covers the area located at 38, 38a, 40 and 42 Haidar Abashidze Street. This section of the street had largely preserved its old appearance, with two-storey houses and open balconies facing a shared inner courtyard. According to records from the Public Registry, thirteen buildings are to be demolished.
Residents told us that most of the structures in the courtyard area were so-called barracks, while the two-storey houses along the street had deteriorated and developed cracks over time.
“Of course, I would have preferred to keep the house, but it became old and cracked. I did not have the means to renovate it. The investor offered good conditions, and I am satisfied,” one resident said.
To create a unified construction site, LLC Ecoline merged several cadastral plots, resulting in a total construction area of 2,738 square meters. According to construction documentation, the company plans to build a 30-storey residential building. The height of the building will be 101.2 meters. The construction permit is dated July 26, 2024.
It remains unclear whether Batumi’s new mayor will change the city’s urban development policy. At present, the city still does not have an approved general urban development plan, nor are cultural heritage protection zones in place.
Batumi City Hall first announced the initiation of procedures to approve cultural heritage protection zones in 2018, based on a document prepared in 2016. In 2021, the municipality issued another explanation, stating that work on approving protection zones would begin only after the city adopted a general development plan.
However, when Batumi will finally have such a plan remains as uncertain today as it has been for the past twenty years.