‘We’re paying huge sums for a wasteland’: Alarm over halted Yekaterinburg construction

Yekaterinburg residents who bought apartments in an Atomstroykomplex building in the Pionersky microdistrict are worried about the fate of their future homes. All work at the site was halted last summer. The reason was that after digging the foundation pit for the new building, cracks appeared in the yard of the neighboring high-rise.

‘We, the equity holders, have been looking at a stagnant wasteland for half a year, work isn’t being done, and the developer doesn’t say when it will start. We’ve been paying huge sums on a mortgage for a wasteland for half a year, and the developer refuses to tell us the start dates. Several media outlets reported that the construction might be banned altogether, but sales haven’t stopped. A bunch of families are paying for a project that might never be built,’ one of the equity holders said indignantly.

The press service of Atomstroykomplex told E1.RU that the company is ready to start preparing the site and begin construction, but they are waiting for the road to be closed for this purpose.

‘As soon as Vilovova Street is closed by order of the Yekaterinburg administration, we will begin preparatory work to resume construction of the building, including reinforcement of utility networks as provided for in the project documentation — these works will take us one and a half to two months. After their completion, we will be ready to resume construction of the building,’ the developer’s press service replied.

The section from the building at Vilovova, 84 to the building at Rayevskogo, 4 was supposed to be closed from 1 December 2025 to 31 July 2026 for the construction of a heating network, but so far the road has not been closed.

The city hall, however, responded that everything is ready for the road closure, but the company must settle a number of issues. Exactly which ones is not reported.

‘As of 20 January, the order to close Vilovova Street, which is necessary for the work, is ready. However, for it to be signed, the construction company Atom must fulfill the obligations it undertook during its preparation,’ the press service of the city administration reported.

At the same time, in response to complaints from equity holders at the end of 2025, company representatives told one of them that they had conducted a re-examination of the project for strengthening the slopes of the foundation pit to prevent soil collapse and new cracks. The same response said that the deadline for completing the building would not change due to forced delays. The high-rise is scheduled for commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2027.

Recall that at the height of the conflict, the city’s chief of construction and even the governor visited the disputed site. Also read what residents of neighboring buildings said about the situation.