Sky Towers (Kiev)


The Sky Towers Multifunctional Complex is mixed-use building currently on hold in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The project is designed to have two towers, ranging from 34 to 47 stories, and a two-story bank building. The gross area of the complex will be approximately 225,000 square metres. The project is also designed to have an eight-story underground parking area of approximately 51,630 square metres with 841 parking spaces. Around 1,594 square metres will be allocated for a retail area. Once completed, the 47-story office tower will be the highest building in Ukraine.

History

Development

The building was proposed in 2005. Originally this building's name was 'ZAGS', a Russian abbreviation for civil registry office, which this building was located next to. KDD Group was a developer for this project. The building was planned to triangle-shaped, similar to Ministry of Transport building, that was on the opposite side of street. Construction was planned to end in 2012, also there was a plans of opening a hotel in the tower.

Construction

Site cleanup began in March 2006, in the winter of 2007 it was fenced. The final project was published in October. In 2008 the building was named 'Sky Towers', during the year slurry wall were installed. Preparation for foundation pit began in 2009. In April 2010 construction of eight underground floors began, in May the first tower crane was set. The construction process went very slow, with pauses due to financial difficulties.
16 September 2010 illegal workers from Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, that were building the skyscraper were arrested.
In October the Turkish company Ant Yapi became the project's main contractor. In October 2011 construction of zero floor began. 24 October the underground floors were finished and preparation for the first floor construction began.
In May 2012 American company, called Cimbrorum Holdings LLC bought the project, KDD Group developer took a credit from them and Ukreximbank to build the skyscraper. Also planned hotel inside the lower tower was cancelled.
In November the Tower A's first floor construction began, next month Tower B's zero floor was complete. In January of 2013 the building rose above one floor and started 'growing' quickly. Due to unseasonable weather of March construction has slowed. In May Tower A had ten floors and Tower B had seven. In June both towers reached 11 floors, which was a limit in main contractor's contract, so construction was paused for some time. In July construction continued, since August both towers were being constructed concurrently. The building reached 15 floors in October and 20 in December. In December it reached 20 floors. In January 2014 first glass was installed on facade of the Tower A.
17 February a 1,5 m long metal rod flew off the construction site and struck a car, as a result it pierced the roof and one passenger got minor injuries.
After Euromaidan construction slightly slowed. In March the building had 23 floors and was already taller than 100 meters. In the end of the month the building already had 25 floors. The glass was installed on Tower B, first escalators were set. In April glass installing began on both towers. In the end of the month atrium's construction began, it was finished in May. Next month there were 27 floors already and glass installment was going on. Next month the new floors construction was stopped, but the glass installment became quicker. During July-August almost a half of the building already had glass installed.
2 August 2015 KDD Group, building's developer, went bankrupt, being unable to pay all the debts to Cimrorum and Ukreksymbank. For the rest of te year there was a fascade work, which went very slow. 13 January one crane's dismantlement began, later they started dismantling the second one as well. By February both cranes were removed and the construction was put on hold.
Since 2017 there were plans to situate all the Kievan City Administration in one building and the Sky Towers was one of the variants. In 2018 Kievan Investment Agency's director Oleg Mistyuk stated, that they've reached the final stage in the coversation about financing the building construction and they only need a contract from government. However these plans didn't go any further and the building remains abandoned to this day.

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