The retail real estate market has not halted its development under war conditions, the opening of seven shopping centers in 2023 has been announced, as Director of Ukrainian Trade Guild (UTG) Eugenia Loktionova said to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
The expert noted that after February 24, 2022 all operators of commercial real estate market have revised their business plans.
At the beginning of 2022, about 20 shopping centers announced their imminent opening. For example, three malls were planned to be opened in Kyiv, Odesa and Khmelnytskyi, and one in Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Ternopil, Rivne, Uzhgorod and Zhytomyr.
In fact, only nine shopping centers were opened in 2022. The largest in Lviv and the region: Fabrik, Epicenter, Laz-695, Maidan, and Dom Interieri. Also opened MFC Lake Plaza in Kiev, MFC Pannonia in Uzhgorod, Happy Mall in Rivne and MFC Prut in Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk region.
“The others, even those already ready for launch, postponed the opening date. Among the risks of launching the mall in today’s conditions, first of all, is the possibility of missile attacks and destruction due to military action. Then we need to consider the work with virtually minimal rental income, because almost all the shopping centers, except for those that are located in the western part of the country, due to migration of the population, most of the visitors were missed” – said Ms. Loktionova.
But at the same time, according to the head of UTG, even in conditions of military operations in areas where there is no hot phase and no risk to life of visitors and employees, it is necessary to open the shopping mall.
The expert notes that in the near future, due to the activity of military operations, launches of new shopping malls should not be expected in the eastern and northeastern regions of the country.
“It is clear that developers have no possibility to plan anything, if every day cities can be under shelling and the threat of rocket attacks. That’s why development in the retail real estate sector correlates with the map of military operations. But after the end of hostilities our country should quickly revive and become even better,” she explained.
At the same time, she said, has retained, and sometimes even increased the activity of retail real estate developers in western Ukraine, especially in cities such as Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Chernivtsi, as well as in the border town of Izmail.
According to Loktionova, shopping center “Odis” is planned to be launched in Ismail in April this year, its leasable area (GLA) is 2 thousand square meters, total (GBA) is 2,5 thousand square meters.
At the end of 2023 REC “Pokrovsky” in Izmail (GLA 4,5 thousand sq.m., GBA 5,3 thousand sq.m.) and a large-scale project of Planeta Mall in Kharkov (GLA 70 thousand sq.m., GBA 110 thousand sq.m.) are expected to be launched.
The opening of Aquarelle and Mercury shopping centers, the second phase of Veles shopping center in Ivano-Frankivsk, Temp shopping center in Khmelnitsky, Vector shopping center in Truskavets and Park shopping center in Drohobych, Lviv region is also announced for 2023.
At the same time the opening of shopping and entertainment center White Lines in Kiev (GLA 27 thousand sq. m, GBA 40 thousand sq. m) is postponed for the next year 2024. The opening of Proskyrov Plaza Shopping and Entertainment Centre (Khmelnitsky) and Brigantina Shopping and Entertainment Centre (Vinnitsa) is announced for the end of 2024.
“Now, as we forecasted earlier, the most popular formats are small shopping centers of regional format with the area of 10-15 thousand square meters. Exactly such objects showed themselves to be the most stable at the moment. As for the chances of realization of the previously announced large-scale projects in the capital, there will be no changes before the end of the war”, – Ms. Loktionova said.
As for tenants, the ratio of system and local players depends on the region and the size of the project, she said.
“If the mall is located in a city with a large number of potential visitors, has a substantial area that meets the requirements of the system players, then in such objects their share will be higher than in smaller shopping centers (where local players used to prevail). However, now the issue of security (as much as possible in the current environment) of the location has come to the forefront.
Therefore, many system players have begun to consider proposals to locate in shopping centers in Western areas, which are smaller in scale in comparison with those built in cities with a population of millions”, – said Ms. Loktionova.
UTG was founded in 2001. Has developed more than 1300 concepts of real estate. Over the years, with the participation of the company leased 4.7 million square meters of commercial space in Ukraine.
