The story of Kyiv’s attempts to build a genuine five-star hotel has, up to now, had an air of tragedy about it, and one of the saddest roles has been played by the ill-fated Teatralny Hotel.
But with the appearance of a Greek investor on the scene, Kyiv City Administration is hoping this part of the tale will have a happy ending.
Greek company Alona Trading (Overseas) has, after lengthy talks with the city, agreed to complete construction of the half-rebuilt hotel, which is located on Bohdana Khmelnytskoho and Volodymyrska streets in downtown Kyiv.
According to the agreement, Alona Trading will invest some $60 million in the project and reimburse the city all the money is has spent so far on construction work, according to Volodymyr Yalovy, Kyiv Administration deputy chief. Yalovy signed the agreement with Alona on behalf of the city.
The Teatralny Hotel is one of Kyiv’s oldest. Although the original 400-room hostelry was constructed more than a century ago (in 1890), it was never one of the city’s architectural jewels.
Work on refurbishment has proceeded on and off over the years, stalling regularly when cash for the work dries up.
“Several years ago City Administration spent $4 million on reconstruction of this building. [We built] the current facade of the future hotel, its foundations, walls and roof,” Yalovy said.
Under the city’s agreement with Alona, reconstruction work should begin again in the spring of 2001, and the project should be completed in December of next year.
After nine years of independence, Ukraine is the only country in Eastern Europe that cannot boast a Western standard four- or five-star hotel in its capital. Several hotels in Kyiv advertise themselves as three-star establishments, but Kyiv hotels rarely use Western standards in determining their star rating.
Although Teatralny may end up being the first five-star hotel to open its doors in Kyiv, a number of other projects are also in the works.
One is the Radisson Hotel on Yaroslaviv val, which is being developed by Raiffeisen Property Invest (RPI), a company set up by ReiffeisenZentralleBank Austria, Radisson, Odessa-based Double W and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
According to Martin Watschinger, RPI’s project manager, the story of this particular development is of epic proportions.
“I could tell you novels about the difficulties we’ve faced,” Watschinger said.
As usual, red tape is holding up the project.
“To secure the land required for the project area, we have to sign a land-lease agreement,” Watschinger said. “This includes 13 different steps with 24 documents/certificates/plans/drawings – and still nobody knows the content and conditions of the land-lease agreement.”
Then there are architectural considerations.
“We could have saved $300,000 if we’d been allowed to demolish and rebuild the existing facade, rather than refurbishing it,” Watschinger said.
But the biggest block to foreign investment is the city authorities’ inability to provide the proper facts and figures to potential investors, so that the foreign company can draw up proper budgets for projects.
“It’s a real problem if responsible bodies can’t even tell if the electricity power line required for the operation of the hotel is 500 meters or 2.5 kilometers long.”
