Moscow ? For decades, Soviet schoolchildren flocked to the Moscow Planetarium to gaze at the stars.

Now plans to reopen the landmark silver-domed structure, shut for repairs 14 years ago, are mired in a struggle for control of an institution situated on a pricey patch of real estate.

The conflict took a startling turn Wednesday when staffers say about 20 uniformed men forced their way onto the grounds, beat an unarmed employee and proclaimed that a new boss was in charge.

It was a development that longtime director Igor Mikitasov described as a hostile takeover, Russian style. In the struggle for property that marks the country’s cutthroat capitalism, corporate raiders sometimes enlist police or private security companies to enforce takeovers legalized through corrupt judges.

The space-age cupola of the planetarium, which opened in 1929, embodied the Utopian dreams of a nation that saw science as the key to a glorious future.

Now it stands as a symbol of an era in which millions of Russians believe the good of society is routinely sacrificed to the commercial interests of bureaucrats and businessmen.

“It’s shameful,” said Anatoly Cherepashchuk, director of the Shternberg Astronomy Institute at Moscow State University. “It’s no good when for 14 years all of Moscow and society suffer because of some disagreement among businessmen.”

The planetarium was plagued by disrepair and mounting debt for utilities in the troubled times following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. It was supposed to reopen – expanded and modernized – on its 75th anniversary in 2004.

A sign affixed to its locked, guarded gate speaks of another missed deadline: 2006. Muscovites wonder when – or whether – it will finally reopen.

The years of delays are the result of a dispute pitting the Moscow city government against Mikitasov, whose company is the minority shareholder, over funding for its reconstruction. The building occupies a choice chunk of former state property in one of booming Moscow’s costliest neighborhoods.

The city says a new administrator has been chosen to replace Mikitasov and his outfit, which it blames for the delays and says owes tens of millions of dollars. Mikitasov, who claims the city halted funding over a year ago, says he has taken his family abroad because he has been threatened and fears for their safety.