Kyiv’s main thoroughfare Khreshchatyk Street climbed three places on a global study of the most expensive retail locations conducted by Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate broker and consultancy headquartered in New York.
Ranking Khreshchatyk 23rd, the study
found that it costs 2,364 euros to rent one square meter of retail space a year
along the 1.2-kilometer street in central Kyiv.
In 2011, the American real estate
broker ranked Khreshchatyk three places lower at 26th in the world.
The study also found that yearly
rental growth remained flat in June over the same period in 2011.
Prime values were up by 1.7 percent
in June over the same period in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe, the
study found, often boosted by requirements from luxury brands.
“Over the year to June 2012, a number
of international retailers were active in the retail market, with the likes of
Gap and Finn Flare establishing a presence,” read the study’s findings on
Ukraine. “However, the Ukrainian retail market is still
characterised by lower quality shopping centers.”
A new 165,000 square-meter shopping mall is
slated to open its doors just south of the city center on Nov. 19 called Ocean
Plaza.
And Rinat Akhmetov’s ESTA Holding is giving
Khreshchatyk’s TsUM shopping center a makeover to bolster space to 38,780
square meters scheduled for completion in 2015.
“Since the start of the financial crisis in 2008, the market has seen limited
new stock delivered, not enough to aid the development of the retail landscape, with the clothing segment
in particular in
need of a boost as there is currently a shortage of national fashion
brands. Attracted by their leisure element, consumers are increasingly
drawn by quality shopping centres, with successful schemes often enjoying vacancy rates of 0.5 percent to
2 percent,” read
the study’s section on Ukraine.
As of July 2012, Kyiv has 179 square meters of trading space per 1,000
residents, among the lowest in Europe, according to a recent Jones Lang LaSalle
survey. The same report said that trading space will increase in the near
future to 220 square meters.
Kyiv Post staff writer Mark
Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].
