Alyona Kravchuk
builds her american dream

Life is movement. It’s a paradox but especially it feels in construction – the area, where Alyona Kravchuk has built her business, starting her carrier at the age of 18. Since that moment the whole her life consists in flights, visits the objects, meetings with thousands of people – professionals who do business with her and with clients to whom Alyona Kravchuk - the partner and the head of Prime Invest Holding, builds the world of comfort and pleasure.

         - Alyona Vitalievna, what is Prime invest Holding today?

         Prime Invest is international group of companies. It provides with investment consulting, manages objects under construction, builds multy family residential buildings and master planned communities. We offer services of architectural and interior design of residential and commercial property. Prime invests plans to build and to realize in the Ukraine till 2010 400 thousand sq.m area in master planned communities, 210 thousand sq.m of residential property in multy family buildings, 45 thousand sq.m of retail and entertainment complexes and 28 thousand sq.m of logistic centers. We are working now on more than 10 new projects of flats and cottages in master planned communities.

         - Who are your clients?

         — We offer services to a wide group of clients. They buy flats in our club-houses and multy family buildings and they buy cottages in master planned communities. But we pay our main attention to business clients – owners of sites who whish to build them up in the most effective way; owners of already built objects interested in its qualified management and financial investors (private person, banks and investment funds, that want to get the biggest income on the real estate market.

         - What projects were offered you last time?

         — At present we have note interesting tendency – owners of property more frequently approach us, who have problems with their objects. During last time there were implemented many projects of master planned communities construction without detailed study of users’ preferences and construction technologies. As a result already built houses remain undemanded. People cannot return credits, their reputation is spoiled and so on.

         - How can you help here?

         — The specialists of our company are able to use several measures that may economize investors’ money or help constructors to return more quickly credit resources. I can say that it is not simple process. It needs the complex of measures, starting with geodesic researches and finishing with advertising campaigns. All it requires big experience and availability of professional team. We have it but investors frequently don’t have it. Also we offer services of capitalization growth of already developed project. For example, the client comes with the project that costs $5 mln and we see that using several professionals measures it is possible to rise project’s profitability up to $10-15 mln. Such services are exclusive and they require exclusive quality. But demand is enormous. I can open you a secret: we even have some small queue now.

         - Prime Invest is active player on the out-of-city real estate market. But nobody can be surprised with simple master planned communities. What is the difference of your projects comparing with competitors’ projects?

         — I can assure you that master planned communities of Prime Invest do not have analogous in the country. One of principal solutions – people need to live with comfort not more than 20-30 minutes from their job. Practically Prime Invest offers now in Ukraine the format achieved in the USA. It is the whole philosophy of democracy and openness. Also we have our particularity – we build very quickly. For example, the master planned community “Montana Village” was designed in 2005, and now people move to their houses.

         - What are you working on now?

         — At present near by Kiev we build the master planned community “Golden Chestnut” (20 thousand sq.m) and “The Forest Stream” (21 thousand sq.m). It is business-category houses for people who appreciate time and do not want to participate in the process of construction. The sizes of these cottages are 150-350 sq.m The price – from $250 thousand. I would like to note that nobody else has such democratic price. By the way, in the USA we successes selling houses for $150 thousand/ In Ukraine it is impossible to offer such price. Prices for construction materials go up with tremendous speed. To provide contract’s fulfillment we had to refuse buying materials for the stock. Also the supply is limited. We even think to buy some productions.

         - The issue of infrastructure is one of the key issues for a buyer of property out-of-city…

         — Each our master planned community suppose to have obligatory fitness-center, swimming-pool, mini-market, sport court , cafe and even private kinder-garten –parents can go to do business, and people will take care of their child. Also there is security service and private ZHEK. Also one of our know-how in the Ukrainian market consists in show-room flats and show-room houses directly in the objects (flats 50-70 sq.m and houses 150-250 sq.m), which our clients may visit before buying. We offer four variants of houses and flats with finishing and with furniture. We build these show-room objects very quickly – within 27-45 days. People may visit them, evaluate their feelings and decide if they like to stay in such house.

         - Does Prime Invest work also outside Ukraine and where exactly?

         — At present we work in the USA (mainly in Florida state), Mexico, Bulgaria, Spain. But at the nearest future we will be able to offer our clients to build houses practically on the whole territory of the USA and Western Europe. The Project “Storm” is dedicated to it in particular. It includes the complex of services for an investor in the real estate sector: permanent monitoring (24 hours a day) the real estate market in Western and Eastern Europe, the USA and also in developing countries, legal accompany of projects at all stages of development, searching plots for projects of residential, commercial, industrial and warehousing real estate, advertising campaign.
The mobile group of the “Storm” project, consisting of foreign specialists of Prime Invest (Lowers, architects, marketing specialists and other) is ready to fly to any part to study the object and to develop recommendations to raise its investment attractiveness. Ad to make it more mobile, we are ready to offer our clients all possible equipment, including the corporate helicopter. Specially developed web-resource and the software give our specialists possibility to get on-line access to the data base of the most attractive investment projects, plots and residential and commercial property.

         - You have been studying for three years in the studio of Modern design in the USA. What your American impressions have you brought to Ukraine?

         — We actively cooperate with the company Yoo and with the architect Philip Stark who creates masterpieces/ I can say that in the USA interior design is interesting and long term process of searching and deliveries. In Ukraine everything is simplified/ The client is mainly worried about the price and his own opinion. In Europe and in the USA it is done otherwise. I as the architect work on design, select the best materials and convince that it will be interesting and exclusive. In Ukraine even stamped thing can be acceptable.
We cooperate with the holding managed by Donald Trump who is a man-legend. Ukrainian developers needs to learn many things from Americans concerning intellectual ownership protection. We see that many of our works have been copied in some or other way. Of course it is pleasant for us, that we are so popular, but it is necessary to pay for copying. Also it is not always acceptable – sometimes the client pays for exclusiveness.

         - What architects do you work with in Ukraine?

         — We collaborate both with many institutes and with individual architects, for example with Sergey Babyshkin. All they are perfect professionals. For me is important vision by an architect of Kiev and Ukraine in total. It is not enough to draw something of fashion taken from some magazine or film.

         - What features would you like to give to Kiev and Ukraine?

         — For me the most important is what is in the core. But in total I would like to see Ukraine more iridescent, and our projects more open and democratic.

         - How visually will this democracy be seen?

         — As creative person I would like that American tradition of communication and openness will get accustomed in Ukraine. The first what we recommend our customers to build fences not of six meters high as it is normal hear but of one and a half meters as it is normal in the USA. Openness also is revealed in the style of life, and the house is its base. Instead of short trip outside the city to make shashlyks, our clients can allow themselves to make real barbeque. The whole family, friends join for barbeque. All together people cook something (sausages, chicken) and spend time on fresh air. I also like to make barbeque with my family. When we do not have urgent matters and flights, we like to have rest on the sea shore.

         - Is architecture and design the hobby that became profession and how do you like to rest?

         — I like the yachts, like active kinds of sport. I play tennis with pleasure. I like diving, specially in Caribbean area – I like it very mach.

         - What architectural style do you select for yourself?

         — One of my favorite projects is in Mediterranean style, but I can not be sure. As soon as I build and finish the house my friends do me an offer: “Alyona we want to buy this house. You are an architect and you will build one else for yourself”, and I give up. All houses built by me for the last ten years, have been successfully sold.

journalist Larisa Gerasimchuk