In Kyiv, another scandal is breaking out around the Rybalsky residential complex due to the developer’s failure to fulfill its obligations, as a result of which hundreds of investors actually lost their money.
The most depressing thing about this news is that it is far from news - investors in Andrey Vavrysh’s Saga Development company have been suffering from their developer for a long time. It is simply impossible to list all the scandals associated with the developer due to their number. Among the loudest is the statement of TV presenter Olga Freimut that due to the actions of Saga Development she was left without an apartment.
This message from Olga Freimut was instantly replicated by the media due to the stardom of the author himself. But the situation is not limited only to Mrs. Freimut herself - at least hundreds of people actually lost money from the actions of Andrei Vavrysh.
The editorial office was contacted by an initiative group of investors who invested their money in the investment construction of house No. 11 in the Rybalsky residential complex. According to them, the construction of the house in which they bought apartments has not been carried out for more than two years, and the deadline for delivery of housing is constantly being pushed back.
As can be seen from the letter, construction of the house began in 2018, and the house itself was supposed to be put into operation in 2020. Four years have passed, the delivery deadlines have been constantly shifting, and it is very likely that investors will share the fate of Olga Freimut, who was left without an apartment and without money. It is possible that they, like Ms. Freimut, will win the courts against the developer, but this will be little consolation, since it will be impossible to comply with the court decision due to the lack of money in the developer’s accounts.
An initiative group of investors is still trying to find a common language with Andrei Vavrysh, but we must admit honestly - they have very little chance. This is evidenced both by the process of developing Rybalsky Island and by the biography of the developer Andrei Vavrysh himself, for whom such methods of making money seem to be the norm.
As for the Rybalsky residential complex, several more high-profile scandals are associated with it. Late last year, investors suddenly found themselves facing late fees and penalties for late payments. Although the developer Saga Development promised not to apply this penalty and these fines - both publicly and in private messages from managers.
The essence of the situation is as follows: due to full-scale hostilities, both the construction of Saga Development facilities itself was suspended, and difficulties arose with making regular payments for future apartments from investors. In connection with this, the developer promised not to apply penalties for late payments and to “freeze” the situation until the end of martial law. But last year it suddenly turned out that the penalty was being calculated retroactively - from June 2022. “A foam, the size of which makes your hair stand on end. This is very similar to a robbery,” wrote Nelly Werner, a housing investor in the Rybalsky residential complex, on her social network page.
A penalty was assessed, although no one resumed the construction of houses. Neither Andrey Vavrysh himself nor the management of Saga Development commented on the situation. Although apartment sales continued. Moreover, the prices are high even for Kyiv and the so-called “elite segment” of housing, to which the Rybalsky residential complex claims. As of now the prices are as follows:
At the same time, there are a lot of comments on review sites that talk about problems that have arisen with the Rybalsky residential complex. These comments confirm everything that the Initiative Group of Investors of building No. 11 in the Rybalsky residential complex stated in their letter to the editor: failure to meet deadlines, more than once, and an actual stop of construction. With the prospect of being left without apartments and without money.
Moreover, this prospect is quite real - Andrei Vavrysh ignores all attempts not only to find a common language with investors, but even to simply meet. Desperate investors even held a picket near their house, or rather, the unfinished building that Vavrysh sold them, but the situation did not budge.
According to people familiar with the current state of affairs, Andrei Vavrysh’s Saga Development company is on the verge of bankruptcy. And the money was withdrawn from the accounts, which is confirmed by the results of Olga Freimut’s trial: she won the claim against the developer, but he has no money in his accounts, and there is nothing to recover. Whether this is true or not - the near future will show, but the prospects for investors are far from rosy: construction is stalled, the deadline for completion is being pushed back further and further, and in the meantime the constructed walls are slowly being destroyed. The money contributed by investors as an advance payment for future square meters disappeared in an unknown direction.
To understand the prospects, we need to remind you a little about who the owner of Saga Development, Andrey Vavrysh, is. This is the former deputy head of the department of urban planning and architecture of the Kyiv City State Administration, head of the urban planning cadastre service of Kyiv, who, after leaving government service, became the owner of the development company Saga Development. Vavrysh especially “rose up” after the change of power - the Office of the new president started a war with Vitali Klitschko, and Andrei Vavrysh was called “the person in charge of the administrative department” of the capital’s construction sector. TheBabel publication called Vavrysh a friend of Andrei Bogdan, an enemy of the ally of the current mayor of Kyiv - developer Vadim Stolar, and one of the curators of the Kyiv majoritarians from the Servant of the People.
The combination of all these factors made it possible for Andrei Vavrysh to become one of the largest players in the capital’s development market. Although after Bogdan left the post of head of the OPU, Vavrysh began to have problems - according to rumors, Ermak has a tense relationship with him. According to BIGUS Info journalists, at the instigation of Ermak, the former head of the Leonid Chernovetsky Bloc faction in the Kyiv City Council, Denis Komarnitsky, and the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the 9th convocation from the Servant of the People, Andrei Kholodov and Nikolai Tishchenko, became the “watchers of Kiev” who rode the financial flows.
Whether all this affected the fate of Andrei Vavrysh’s Rybalsky residential complex is difficult to say. But the fact of failure to meet construction deadlines and the withdrawal of money from the developer’s accounts does occur. Whether the authorities will try to intervene in the situation and at least mitigate the upcoming collapse of Saga Development is unknown. The authorities are silent, ordinary investors are trying to fight, but everyone pretends that nothing is happening. Although we are not talking about hundreds, but about thousands of people who invested money in the Rybalsky residential complex from Saga Development, because, apparently, the situation is not limited to building No. 11.
