For the unfinished shopping center, which was seized in 2021, they are asking for just under one million US dollars.
The saga of the illegal unfinished building on Ivasyuka Avenue, which residents of nearby houses have been fighting against for five years, has taken an unexpected turn. The three-story "box," for which the owners seized part of the adjoining territory, has been put up for sale – despite the fact that the court imposed a seizure on this property back in 2021.
Who authorized the construction of a full shopping center instead of a small pavilion, which is now valued at nearly a million dollars, was investigated by Kashtan NEWS.
5 Not construction, but renovation!
The land plot of 0.0445 hectares on Ivasyuka Avenue (then – Heroes of Stalingrad), 44, was sold by the Kyiv City Council to a private company in 2005 – designated "for the construction, operation, and maintenance of a store." The buyer, LLC "Liberty LTD," paid 489,700 hryvnias for it, and for some time, there was a small one-story building on the site that housed a pharmacy and a gaming hall.
However, in the summer of 2020, the building was demolished, and residents of the area were astonished to find that a massive concrete structure was rising in its place, right in the middle of the courtyard, clearly exceeding the former modest pavilion in both size and height.
Later, a construction passport appeared on the fence of the site. From it, the residents learned that, in fact, what was taking place here was not construction but "major renovation of the building." As a result of this strange renovation, a three-story shopping center with a total area of 925.92 sq. m was supposed to emerge in the courtyard.
6 Since the fence of the new building was located just 15 meters from the neighboring house, it was clear that the construction did not excite its residents. In October 2020, then-Kyiv City Council deputy Yuriy Didovets, at the request of local residents, appealed to the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, demanding a check on the legality of the building's construction on this plot, as the architectural and construction department of the Kyiv City State Administration had not issued any permits for construction work. However, at the same time, the Kyiv City State Administration claimed that there were allegedly no legal grounds to check this illegal construction – which forced the deputy and local residents to appeal even to the government.
The "rubber" building
The activity of the local residents did yield positive changes: in March 2021, a criminal proceeding was opened against LLC "Liberty LTD," entered into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under number 42021101050000038. As revealed by the pre-trial investigation, in 2008, the Obolon District Administration accepted the previous version of the building into operation – the same one-story pavilion with an area of 214 sq. m, which housed a pharmacy. However, "Liberty LTD" forged the technical passport and, in collusion with a notary, registered ownership rights to this building, indicating its area as 750.7 sq. m.
7 Thus, the one-story pavilion was legally "expanded" almost three and a half times, which later gave the owner grounds to seize part of the neighboring territory. On April 8, 2021, the Obolon District Court, at the request of the prosecutor, imposed a seizure on the unfinished shopping center. The owner’s representatives attempted to challenge this decision, but in January 2022, the Kyiv Court of Appeal upheld it.
8 By the prosecutor's order dated April 7, 2021, this non-residential building was recognized as physical evidence in the criminal proceeding. To preserve the specified property, the prosecutor – the procedural manager in the criminal case – appealed to the investigating judge with a relevant request, as he believed there was a threat of alienation of the building to third parties, while the building had not been put into operation according to current legislation and had not been assigned an address, as stated in the ruling of the appellate instance. Therefore, the judges agreed with the previous decision of the Obolon District Court and denied LLC "Liberty LTD" the removal of the seizure from their oversized unfinished building.
A generous offer
However, after the seizure was imposed, the lives of residents in neighboring houses did not improve, as the illegally constructed "box" in the middle of the yard remained. Moreover, the unfinished building began to deteriorate, and since the fence around it was removed, the abandoned construction site began attracting young thrill-seekers. The Telegram channel "Life OBOLON Kyiv" published photos and videos several times showing teenagers climbing on the construction structures on the upper floors.
“We ask the city authorities and law enforcement to respond, and parents to have a preventive conversation with their children,” – called the admins of the Telegram channel.
9 One might think that the owners, having received a setback from the court, had completely forgotten about their unfinished shopping center; however, it turned out that this is likely not the case. On January 23, two advertisements appeared on the OLX portal from a user named KENAN, who claims to be the owner of the building.
0 In the first advertisement, which has since been deleted, the user offered to sell the unfinished building on Ivasyuka Avenue for "only" 920,000 US dollars (negotiable). He explicitly states that construction has been halted due to violations of regulations: formally, the building's area is 225.0 sq. m, but in fact, it is 750 sq. m, while the area of the plot is only 445 sq. m (0.045 ha).
“The land and the annex are on the balance of the LLC. Wishes to sell can be with the LLC together or without the LLC,” – indicates the user (original style, spelling, and punctuation preserved).
In the second advertisement, the same user offers a partnership: 420,000 dollars for 50 percent of the project, then splitting the costs for completing the construction and obtaining permits – another 400,000 US dollars.
1 “70% of the construction and project has already been done by me. Importantly, during this period I have already spent on utilities: water, sewage, the construction itself without the land is about 700,000 $,” – states KENAN (original style, spelling, and punctuation preserved).
According to YouControl, the owners and ultimate beneficiaries of LLC "Liberty LTD" are Kahanovsky Oleksandr Mykhailovych and Khaitovych Volodymyr Shaievych. Whether they are related to these advertisements remains unclear. However, the fact that illegal unfinished construction is openly advertised for sale online is intriguing in itself.
Kashtan NEWS will monitor the developments.
Konstantin MYKHAILENKO