Georgia sets $24 million repair bill for Medea spa buyer

A buyer for the Medea sanatorium in Tskaltubo must commit $24 million in renovations. That sum is separate from the $3.3 million purchase price the government is asking. The total cost for that single property reaches $27.3 million. The state listed the ten Soviet-era buildings on October 20.

The online auction closes on November 15. The other nine properties carry similar terms. Initial prices for those sites range from $1 million to $3.5 million. Bidders must pledge considerable additional investment in repairs. The Medea building is the most recognizable. Its neoclassical arches have appeared in Western media.

Frederic Le Fichoux helped prepare a 2020 feasibility study on the town. He told RFE/RL that the terms reflect a larger issue. "If you are one investor and you buy, you renovate that property that you bought, you turn it around," he said. "but then the rest of the destination is still kept as a ruin." He believes the town has commercial potential. He says development needs public money for roads and access.

The state has sold these properties before. Seven sanatoriums changed hands in earlier auctions. Three have since returned to state ownership. Medea was one of them. The state took it back in 2024 after the buyer failed to meet contractual obligations.

David Sichinava, a Canada-based academic, grew up in Tskaltubo. He describes the redevelopment as an "all or nothing" effort. He notes that the town is exempt from permit fees for casino operators. Those fees reach $1.9 million a year elsewhere in Georgia. "Balneology (the science of therapeutic use of baths) alone can't really support the kind of tourists that this town can host," he said.

Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia's wealthiest man, promised to buy the state-owned spas in October 2019. He called their condition "depressing." Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said the plan was dropped due to the pandemic and "de facto sanctions" against Ivanishvili. He made that statement to media on October 20.

The sanatoriums have housed people displaced by conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the 1990s. Most have moved out. Sichinava estimates 100 to 200 displaced people still live in the buildings. Madonna Mushkudiani moved into one in 1992. She was relocated to an apartment in 2023. "We miss every minute we spent there. It was our second home," she said.