Kovalska, traditionally the largest manufacturer of building materials in Ukraine, is now also becoming a real estate developer as it will invest $70 million to build five new buildings within four years on the territory of innovation park Unit.City in Kyiv, the company announced on Sept. 24.
Kovalska’s construction plan will accelerate the growth of Unit.City, a 25-hectare inner-city site dedicated to Ukraine’s IT, which claims to bring $5 billion a year to the Ukrainian economy through creating new jobs and opportunities.
Unit.City was founded by Ukrainian multi-millionaire Vasyl Khmelnytsky in 2017 in order to, as he says, to strengthen the country’s weak IT ecosystem. It includes a not-for-profit education academy, fablabs and office spaces for tech companies.
This collaboration is a “good partnership,” according to CEO of Unit.City Dominique Piotet.
“We know how to build ecosystems and they know how to build beautiful buildings — we’re complementary,” Piotet told the Kyiv Post on Sept. 25.
Kovalska employs 4,500 people all over Ukraine and is worth $520 million, according to the company’s website.
After the buildings will be fully constructed, Unit.City and Kovalska will be able to rent 70,000 square meters to startups and tech companies.
Three buildings are already being built, adding up to the park’s growing infrastructure. Only 10% of the park’s original plan has been completed so far. As of today, Unit.City hosts 110 companies with 3,000 employees and 1,000 students studying in programming schools.
Piotet said 30,000 people will be able to work and live there. There will be two schools, a hotel, a hospital, and restaurants, and everything will be high-tech when the park is finished.
Constructing more
Unit.City is mostly funded by Khmelnytsky’s holding company UFuture Investment Group, which also develops the same kind of hubs in Kharkiv and Lviv.
Real estate developer KAN Development also takes part in the project, as well as UDP, Unit.City’s own real estate developer, making Kovalska the third developer in this industrial park.
Simultaneously, seven other buildings are being built in the park — the construction of which is financed by the European Investment Bank. EIB agreed to lend 50 million euros to boost its development and help make Unit.City one of the biggest industrial parks in Central and Eastern Europe, the bank reported on July 1.
The agreement suggests that Unit.City will receive up to 10 tranches of at least 5 million euros each to be allocated over the next nine years. The construction is expected to be completed by 2023.
