Krippa gains control of company behind huge Khreshchatyk project in Kyiv

Businessman Maksym Krippa is acquiring a company that in 2024 received a permit to build the Stolychnyi office and hotel complex on Khreshchatyk, next to the Dnipro Hotel. The decision was reported on the website of Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee.

"We have granted permission to JSC ZNVKIF ARS Capital to acquire control over Grail LLC," the committee said.

According to the YouControl database, Grail is currently part of the KAN Development group associated with Ihor Nikonov. Krippa is listed as one of the co-owners with a 24% stake.

In 2003, the Kyiv City Administration recognized the company as the winner of an investment tender to reconstruct European Square, including the construction of non-residential facilities and development of underground space beneath Khreshchatyk (from Maidan to European Square) and Hrushevskoho Street (from European Square to building No. 4).

The centerpiece of the project was planned as the construction of a high-rise Stolychnyi office and hotel complex. These plans sparked public protests because the site lies within the historic urban planning zone of Khreshchatyk Street and partly within a UNESCO heritage buffer zone.

In 2021, the Kyiv City Council voted to renew Grail’s lease for the land plot at 5 Khreshchatyk Street and transfer a neighboring plot at 4b Hrushevskoho Street for development.

At the time, deputies were shown concept renderings that no longer included a skyscraper. The designs depicted buildings aligned in height with neighboring structures.

The current plan предусматриває two 10-storey buildings and an underground parking facility for 146 cars.

• Dnipro Hotel, located on European Square, in 2020 privatized for UAH 1.1 billion.
• In December 2024, Krippa said he had spent more than $100 million on real estate in Ukraine over the previous two years. Acquisitions BC "Parus" і of the Ukraina Hotel the businessman explained that is interested in "only iconic places, landmarks, unique things, something that can't be replaced because of its location."