Extraordinary executive committee convened in Odesa over monument on French Boulevard

An extraordinary meeting of the executive committee of the city council has been convened in Odesa to consider the situation around the cultural heritage sites at 10 Frantsuzsky Boulevard. This is a high-profile story about the dismantling of a historic building.

This was reported by the press service of the Odesa City Council.

The meeting will begin at 11:00 a.m. and will be broadcast live. The agenda includes one key issue from the Department of Culture, Tourism and Protection of Cultural Heritage, which concerns urgent measures to protect the monuments at the specified address. The speaker will be Acting Director of the Department Fedir Stoyanov.

The situation around 10 Frantsuzsky Boulevard became widely publicized after the registration of an electronic petition demanding the preservation of historic buildings and making decisions in the field of cultural heritage protection more transparent. The author of the petition emphasizes the risks of destruction of the monument and points to systemic problems, such as the lack of proper control, expert evaluation, and public discussion of urban planning decisions.

The case was given additional resonance by the events of the night of March 23, when, during an air raid, the dismantling of a part of the historic building, the warehouses of the local government department, built in 1895 by architect Lev Vlodek, began. The object has the status of an architectural monument of local importance.

It is also a complex of buildings, including a brewery from the early 20th century. Recently, the Department of Culture of the Odesa Regional State Administration won an appeal in a case to protect these objects.

The territory has a complicated history of ownership: the Odessavinprom plant used to operate here, which was privatized in 2021. In 2024, the new owner, Kaplor 7, acquired the asset for more than UAH 234 million and began procedures to change the designated purpose of the site for residential development. This opens up the possibility of building high-rise buildings.

In 2025, some of the industrial buildings were already demolished on the site. The prosecutor 's office opened criminal proceedings over possible violations of the law. The Odesa Regional Military Administration also imposed financial sanctions on the owner for violating the terms of the security contract and illegal work.

At the same time, Odesa City Council member Olha Kvasnytska claimed manipulation of the General Plan and the actual failure of the monument protection system. It turned out that the problem was not in the documents, but in corruption, sabotage, and lack of professional city management.

Анна Бальчінос