Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan today traveled to the Armenian resort town of Tzaghkadzor to attend the reopening of a hotel and spa that once served as a quarantine site for coronavirus patients.

The complex, the former Golden Palace Hotel Resort & Spa, had stood empty ever since the family of Armen Avetisyan, the country’s former head of customs, gifted it to the state in 2019.

At the time, Avetisyan was being investigated for alleged money laundering and amassing part of his US$90 million hotel portfolio during his time as a public official, despite laws forbidding him from business dealings while in office. But just weeks after the state accepted his family’s gift, worth over $15 million, the probe against him was dropped.

The property was sold to Project Inter-Invest LLC, a company owned by businessman Narek Nalbandyan, in 2022 for AMD 5 billion ($12.4 M).

Nalbandyan renovated the property and renamed it the Eighty Eight Hotel & Spa.

Nalbandyan has also acquired the Hayrapet Hotel complex in the town of Sevan and two adjacent properties. Details of the 2021transaction show the businessman bought the hotel valued at US$6 million for $360,000.  

SEE: Armenia's Golden Palaces: Offshore Millions Evaded Investigators, Another Shady Deal: Armenian Businessman Buys Lake Sevan Hotel at Bargain Basement Price