The UFuture Investment Group of businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky, which portfolio includes UNIT.City innovation park in Kyiv, plans to launch the first phase of LvivTech.City at the end of 2019, the founder of UFuture Investment Group Vasyl Khmelnytsky has said in a blitz interview with Interfax-Ukraine. “We are planning to open LvivTech.City Innovation Park at the end of 2019… We can say that the first Lviv campus will combine office and commercial sections (cafes and restaurants). The office space will be 9,500 square meters, commercial – 3,000 square meters. It will also be built according to the standards of “green” construction,” Khmelnytsky said.
According to him, the company has not yet attracted partners and loan financing for this project and it is building the space at its own expense. “The park has residents, but we do not sign the contracts until we reach the final stage of construction,” the businessman said.
In addition, the company intends to open an educational space in Kharkiv this year. “This year we will launch an institute and a co-working space in Kharkiv. There is already a modern building with an area of 12,000 square meters, in which they will occupy about a quarter… This is the initial stage. The park will expand with the growth of the market,” Khmelnytsky said.
As reported, LvivTech.City will be located on a land parcel of 1.77 ha on the territory of the industrial zone of former Lvivprylad plant. The project would allow creating new jobs and open the territory of the closed enterprise for society.
It is planned that the gross area of the office sector of the LvivTech.City will be over 40,000 square meters. The park would have parking zones, green zone and territories for recreation. In addition, the project will be implemented meeting the LEED green building standards. The completion of the first stage of the LvivTech.City earlier was scheduled for H2 2018.
UFuture and Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute will build and open in Kharkiv the Innovations Campus educational space worth more than UAH 60 million. Earlier it was planned that the campus will start operating at the end of 2018. The training will be based on an innovative educational program, which was developed by UNIT Factory specialists in cooperation with Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute and other Ukrainian higher educational establishments.
In addition, the Small and Medium Entrepreneurship School will continue its work at the campus, whereas modern co-working will open the possibility for start-ups and creative young professionals to get jobs, qualified professional business support, security, access to knowledge.
The organizers also plan to attract investments from the state, enterprises and local business to finance this social and educational project.
UFuture Investment Group, headquartered in Brussels, was established in autumn 2017 and united the business projects of Khmelnytsky. The group includes the Ukrainian development company UDP, whose specialization is the implementation of large infrastructure projects. In addition, the conglomerate united businesses in such areas as UDP Renewables, the Bila Tserkva industrial park, the innovation parks UNIT.City, and LvivTech.City.