On August 25 this year, the second phase of the Veles shopping and entertainment center will be opened in Ivano-Frankivsk. According to Rostyslav Mykhailiv, COO of 555-IF, the developer, the new expansion of the mall has a total area of 43,000 square meters and a leasable area of 25,000 square meters, Forbes reports.

This expansion will increase the total area of Veles from 20,000 square meters to 62,000 square meters, and the leasable area to 40,500 square meters.

The renovated Veles will be among the top four largest shopping centers in terms of leasable area in western Ukraine. According to the investment portal InVenture, only Victoria Gardens (54,000 square meters) and King Cross Leopolis (50,000 square meters) in Lviv and Boyanovka (54,000 square meters) in Chernivtsi offer more commercial space.

The second phase of Veles will open with 20% vacancy. The main tenants will include Silpo supermarket, Comfy home appliances and electronics store, Fly Kids children's entertainment center and Movie Land cinema.

The previous anchor tenant of Veles was the ECO-market supermarket, which is being closed.

The existing part of Veles already has stores of well-known brands, such as LC WAIKIKI, Megasport, CCC, Miracle Island, Anabel Arto, A. Tan, Watsons, Junker, Miniso. Some of these tenants also plan to expand their operations in the renovated mall.

"Veles has become the largest commercial real estate property in Ukraine to open after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. In 2021, Raiffeisen Bank issued a loan of UAH 300 million for the construction of the second phase of the mall. According to YouControl, the ultimate beneficial owner of 555-IF LLC is Serhiy Pukish, whose other properties include the Dobrobut Prykarpattia agricultural firm and the Kalush basketball club.