Poland's Echo Investment said its first development in Ukraine will be a 100,000 m[sup]2[/sup] office park in the capital Kiev. The company has purchased 100% of the shares in Ukrainian company Yevrobudgarant for approximately $26 mln to acquire a property on Diehtiarivska street in Kiev for the project.

Poland's Echo Investment said its first development in Ukraine will be a 100,000 m2 office park in the capital Kiev. The company has purchased 100% of the shares in Ukrainian company Yevrobudgarant for approximately $26 mln to acquire a property on Diehtiarivska street in Kiev for the project.

Echo Investment has been present in the Ukrainian market since 2007. Piotr Gromniak, president of Echo's board, said the development project in Kiev was the result of a new strategic focus on the real estate market in Central and Eastern European countries. So far the company has commenced investments in Hungary (2006) and Romania (2007).

'For several years we've been closely watching the situation on the Ukrainian market. Our aim was to purchase an attractive land plot for realisation of a commercial project. Attaining this goal was only a matter of time. It was worth waiting - today prices of land properties, the speed of administrative processes and also relations of demand and supply have been verified by the global economic slowdown and have reached levels much more attractive for us,' Gromniak said.

The project is to be realized at Diehtiarivska street on a land plot of 4,3 hectares. The project will proceed in stages, with construction of the first stage planned for the first quarter of 2010. Completion is planned for the second quarter of of 2012.