Standard One Co-owner Oleksandr Ovcharenko Speaks at Forbes Development 2026 Forum
On June 11, the Forbes Development forum took place in Kyiv, bringing together developers, architects, investors, and government representatives to discuss residential construction, sector investment, Ukraine's demographic landscape, urban planning reforms, and competition among communities for investors.
The event featured a panel titled "Speaking the Same Language: How Ukrainian Developers Secure Foreign Financing," moderated by commercial real estate investment advisor Roman Yemets. Speakers included Oleksandr Lakey (City One Development), Dmytro Kovalchuk (Alterra Group), and Standard One co-owner Oleksandr Ovcharenko.
A Finished Product Instead of Promises
Oleksandr Ovcharenko emphasized that the core requirements of foreign investors remain unchanged — before, during, and after the war.
"A foreign investor needs to see not pretty promises and renderings, but a finished product and a ready business model. The investor must understand all the risks involved, the payback period, the yield, and — critically — the exit from the investment."
This is precisely the approach Standard One applied in its first build-to-rent project, S1 VDNH — 660 apartments, of which 235 were purchased by non-residents of Ukraine. First by geography is Israel (160–170 apartments), followed by the USA (35 units), the EU, Switzerland, and the UK (15 units), and South Korea.
The build-to-rent model is well understood in international markets: Poland's rental residential real estate market, for example, has grown tenfold in recent years. For Israeli investors — who became the largest buyers across Standard One's first two properties — this format is equally familiar, as similar income-generating models are actively developing in their market, where yields on comparable projects do not exceed 4.5%, while Standard One projects offer returns from 10% in USD, excluding capitalization.
"We brought to market a real product — a real model that has been working in the developed countries of the European Union, the USA, and the United Kingdom for several decades."
Transparency as a Prerequisite for Western Partners
According to Ovcharenko, any investor — Ukrainian or foreign — cares about four things: location, tenant demand, professional management, and predictable income. "That is exactly what we are building Standard One around today — as a single ecosystem."
The company is moving toward the S1 Group format, which combines: Standard One as the developer creating the product; S1 Property, the income real estate management company; and S1 REIT, an investment product that allows anyone to become a co-owner of rental income property with a low entry ticket (from UAH 1,000).
The developer's portfolio currently includes 6 buildings: S1 VDNH, S1 Obolon, S1 Poznyaky, S1 Nyvky, and S1 Terminal. Ovcharenko noted that S1 Group offers solutions for different investor needs — a choice between locations (right or left bank of Kyiv), formats, and property types (apartments or units) at various stages of development. For those wishing to become sole owners of a unit, the entry ticket is $60,000–$70,000. The S1 VDNH fund certificates have already delivered a yield of 12.4–12.6%, and had an investor purchased a certificate a year ago and sold it today, the return would have been 13%, thanks to the monthly valuation review.
The active development stage is currently underway for S1 Poznyaky — the company's largest residential project, which is now open for investment on the most favorable early-entry terms.
"S1 Poznyaky is a 24-story building with 756 apartments and a total area of 29,000 m². This is the project currently in active development, and right now is the moment for investors to enter on the best terms and gain additional capital appreciation through early entry," Ovcharenko stressed.
