Legendary Petrivka book market will be torn down, replaced by shopping mall

Kyiv's famous Petrivka book market will be torn down and replaced by another shopping mall, according to documents available on the urban planning department website of the Kyiv City State Administration.

The open air book market has attained legendary status among residents of the capital. It is the largest place to buy books in the country, with over 100,000 titles. It's also the ideal place for book lovers to browse for hours, constantly uncovering new material.

A weekly flea market is also held along the railroad tracks running near the market, widely known as the place to buy any number of antiques and unusual treasures.

The urban planning documents appeared on Dec. 2, specifying that the mall will be built on two sites, with areas of 3.55 and 0.91 hectares.

The larger section will sit on the Verbova, Kurenivska, Bohatyrska, Naberezhno-Rybalska streets, Moskovsky Avenue and the railway track in the Obolonsky district. The smaller segment will replace the Petrivka book market at 10 Stepana Bandery Avenue.

The shopping and entertainment complex is expected to have an area of 350,000 square meters.

Novoye Vremya reported that the mall is being developed by the Swedish company Stadsis AB belonging to Ukrainian developer and shopping mall tycoon Vagif Aliyev, who also owns Mandarin Plaza, Blockbuster Mall, Lavina Mall, Terminal Mall and others. Still under construction are his Ocean Mall, Lesnaya Mall and Hippodrome Mall.

The plans to tear down the book market provoked a petition calling for its preservation, signed by 1,261 Kyivans in 2020.

On Nov. 22, Kyiv City Council deputy Vladyslav Trubitsyn had promised the Petrivka book market would not be demolished and the mall project had been reworked to be built on the opposite side of the market. Based on the urban planning documents, this does not appear to be the case.

On Nov. 16 the chairman of the supervisory board of Mandarin Plaza Oleksandr Chernytsky promised to Novoye Vremya that the mall would “take into account the interests of all parties, so a modern book market will be opened as part of the mall, which will sell not only books but also licensed films and music.”

Nine more shopping centers are expected to open in 2021-2022 in Kyiv with a total rental area of 267,000 square meters, the Ukrainian Trade Guild (UTG), a real estate consulting firm, reported in July.