Proposed skyscraper divides Russian city

ST. PETERSBURG — Twisting as it rises 77 stories, the planned office development known as Gazprom City is testament to the muscle of Russia's richest company. A flickering gas flame captured in soaring glass, the design is also an ode to the country's energy-driven boom.

But the 1,300-foot skyscraper to be built on the Neva River across from the pastel-blue-and-white Smolny Cathedral will loom over a baroque cityscape famous for the Hermitage art museum and the Peter and Paul Cathedral, among dozens of other historic landmarks.

The project has become a flash point in an angry debate not just about architectural preservation and corporate clout, modernity and the old city, but also power and privilege in today's Russia.

In upcoming elections for the regional parliament, the Yabloko party, which has railed against Gazprom City, has been banned on the grounds that too many of the signatures it gathered to qualify for the race contained errors. Party leaders say their exclusion is punishment for standing up to Gov. Valentina Matviyenko, a Gazprom booster and ally of President Vladimir Putin.

Gazprom, a state-controlled energy company, is portraying the project as a boost for Russia's second city, too long seen as Moscow's poor cousin. The building's designers also say the tower is a fitting complement to the city's heritage: startling, but also harmonious.

"I feel when something is really special to the city it breaks the horizontal grain," said Tony Kettle, lead architect on the project for the British architectural firm RMJM.

But critics call the tower a monument to Gazprom's ego.

"This city is a historical gift, a chain of architectural ensembles," said Dmitri Butyrin, head of the council for the protection of cultural heritage in the city's Union of Architects. "And it is threatened by the power of money, which will throw up a modern monster."

Opponents have also bridled at the development's financing, accusing Gazprom of securing a sweetheart tax break from local authorities.

Over 10 years, Gazpromneft, the company's oil subsidiary, will receive a $2.2 billion rebate on its taxes to help defray the cost of the mixed-use complex, which is to include residences for Gazprom executives.

The city will not have a direct stake in the development but is counting on major tax revenues as long as Gazpromneft stays in St. Petersburg and oil prices remain high.

"There are 800,000 people in St. Petersburg still living in communal flats, so it's impossible to justify Gazprom's greed," said Tatyana Likhanova, a local rights activist and journalist.

Gazprom City has been mired in controversy since the company held a design competition calling for a high-rise centerpiece on the 165-acre site currently occupied by some inauspicious buildings. Protesters have beaten back previous attempts to build skyscrapers in central St. Petersburg. But until now the developers have not included Gazprom, the $250 billion behemoth chaired by Dmitri Medvedev, first deputy prime minister and a St. Petersburg native.

Local architects refused to participate in the competition or serve on the jury weighing entries from six international firms.