The commercial real estate market did not stop its development during the war, the opening of seven shopping centers was announced in 2023, the director of the Ukrainian Trade Guild (UTG) Evgenia Loktionova told the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

The expert stated that after February 24, 2022, all operators of the commercial real estate market reviewed their business plans.

At the beginning of 2022, about 20 shopping centers announced their forthcoming opening. For example, three shopping malls were being prepared for opening in Kyiv, Odesa, and Khmelnytskyi, as well as one each in Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Ternopil, Rivne, Uzhgorod, and Zhytomyr.

In fact, only nine shopping centers were opened in 2022. The most in Lviv and the region: Fabrik, “Epicentr”, “Laz-695”, “Maidan”, “House of Interior”. Lake Plaza shopping and office center in Kyiv, SEC Pannonia in Uzhgorod, Happy Mall in Rivne and SEC Prut in Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk region have also opened.

“Others, even ready for launch, have postponed the opening date. Among the risks of launching shopping malls in today’s conditions, first of all, there is the possibility of missile strikes and destruction due to military actions. Then you need to take into account work with practically minimal rental income, since almost all SECs, except for those located in the western part of the country, due to the migration of the population, most of their visitors were undercounted,” – said Loktionova.

But at the same time, according to the head of UTG, even in the conditions of military operations in those territories, where there is no hot phase and no risk to the lives of visitors and employees, it is necessary to open SECs.

The expert notes that in the near future, due to the active hostilities, the launch of new shopping centers should not be expected in the eastern and north-eastern regions of the country.

“It is clear that developers have no way to plan anything if every day the cities can be under shelling and the threat of missile attacks. Therefore, development in the commercial real estate sector is correlated with the map of hostilities. But after the end of hostilities, our country must quickly revive and become even better,” – she explained.

At the same time, according to her, the activity of commercial real estate developers in western Ukraine has remained, and sometimes even increased, especially in such cities as Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Chernivtsi, as well as in the border town of Izmail.

According to Loktionova, in April of this year, before the launch of the SC “Odis” in Izmail, its leasable area (GLA) of 2 thousand square meters is planned, total (GBA) 2.5 thousand square meters.

At the end of 2023, they intend to launch the SEC Pokrovsky in Izmail (GLA 4.5 thousand square meters, GBA 5.3 thousand square meters) and the large-scale project of the SEC Planeta Mall in Kharkiv (GLA 70 thousand square meters, GBA 110 thousand square meters).

In 2023, the opening of SC “Akvarel” and “Mercury” in Odesa, the second phase of SEC Veles in Ivano-Frankivsk, SOC Temp in Khmelnytskyi, SC Vector in Truskavets, and SC Park in Drohobych, Lviv region, have also been announced.

At the same time, the opening of the SEC White Lines in Kyiv has been postponed to the following year, 2024 (GLA 27,000 square meters, GBA 40,000 square meters). By the end of 2024, the opening of the SEC Proskyrov Plaza (Khmelnytskyi) and the SEC Brigantina (Vinnytsia) has been announced.

“At the moment, as we predicted earlier, the most popular formats are small SC of the district format with an area of 10-15 thousand square meters. These are the objects that have proven themselves to be the most stable. As for the chances of implementing previously announced large projects in the capital, then until the end there will be no war of movements,” – Loktionova stated.

Regarding tenants, the ratio of system and local players depends on the region and the size of the project, she noted.

“If the shopping center is located in a city with a large number of potential visitors, has significant areas that meet the requirements of system players, then their share in such facilities will be higher than in small shopping centers (where previously local ones prevailed). However, now the issue of security has come to the fore (as much as possible under the current conditions) of the location, so many system players began to consider proposals for placement in shopping centers in the western regions, which are smaller compared to those built in million-plus cities,” – Loktionova explained.

The UTG company was established in 2001. Developed more than 1,300 concepts of real estate objects. During the years of work, 4.7 million square meters of commercial space in Ukraine were leased with the participation of the company.