Real Estate

Speculators await massive Prague city property sell-off

Kateřina Menzelová — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:13:25 +0000

Prague councilors have approved the sale of nearly 3,855 city-owned dwellings — just a few hundred shy of the entire number of apartments sold last year in the Czech capital — for which the city hopes to fetch at least Kč 4 billion. There is talk, however, that speculators will manage to circumvent controls seeking to grant favorable terms only to current tenants.

PPF Banka waits in vain for cash to convert costliest Prague plot

Kateřina Menzelová — Tue, 29 May 2012 08:58:50 +0000

A luxury five-star Sofitel hotel was to arise on one of the most prestigious addresses in the Czech capital. But it was not to be. The lot on the corner of Mikulandská street and Národní třída, the avenue that runs from the Vltava River to the edge of Wenceslas Square, is still an unassuming parking lot, belying the fact that it is the most expensive plot in Prague.

Prague 7’s massive tender for new City Hall merely ‘testing the waters’

Kateřina Menzelová — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:13:33 +0000

Now 16 months after Prague 7 called a tender to secure new headquarters for the district’s town hall comes a twist in the case: what had previously been presented as a classic public tender has been recast as mere “market research.”

Key ruling in ECM insolvency case: developer allowed to reorganize

Kateřina Menzelová — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:20:30 +0000

Following almost a year of speculation as to whether the developer ECM would be declared bankrupt, or given a chance to restructure, the Prague Municipal Court has decided on the latter. Astin Capital, which represents a group of holders of ECM’s Eurobonds with a face value of over Kč 3 billion, has been given 120 days to present a restructuring plan.

Fiasco around largest Prague real-estate tender deepens

Kateřina Menzelová — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:07:18 +0000

Almost a year has passed since the Prague 7 administration issued a tender for its new premises. From 11 offers, two potential locations have been selected: building B of the PPF Group’s Argentinská hvězda (Argentine Star project), and Mercury Tower, belonging to the firm Argentinská 38. PPF is asking Kč 762 million, while the price tag on the Mercury Tower is Kč 845 million.

Second Prague ‘Dancing House’ courts controversy over project approval

Ondřej Koutník — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:39:58 +0000

It was with a great deal of pomp that the Novomlýnská brána development project in Prague was unveiled to the public.

Will Mayor Svoboda seize control of property in Prague 10 over dodgy deal?

István Léko — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:50:03 +0000

The civic pressure group Fair Housing in Prague 10 says plans drawn up by the district’s administration, led by district Milan Richter (Civic Democrat, ODS), to sell off 44 residential villas are non-transparent, non-conceptual and unfair, and fears the tenants will be evicted. The properties are worth a total of around Kč 1 billion.

Auditor values Prague’s 02 Arena at fraction of cost

Tom Jones — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:27:01 +0000

Completed in time for the Ice Hockey World Championships in 2004, the 02 Arena (originally the Sazka Arena) multifunctional indoor sports and entertainment complex in Prague reportedly cost Kč 7.2 billion to build. The project proved to be the financial downfall of the lottery firm Sazka, which until recently was majority owned by the Czech Sports Association (ČSTV). Now the bankrupt lottery firm’s creditors are now looking to sell the arena, but auditor Ernst & Young has valued it at a maximum of Kč 1.57 billion.

Controversial proposal to nationalize crumbling properties heads for Czech parliament

Chris Johnstone — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:44:10 +0000

A move calling for the Czech state to nationalize crumbling historic buildings in cases where the owner has neglected them for 10 years or more will be put to the lower house of parliament (Chamber of Deputies) next week in what had been described by local media as a landmark measure.

Prague council launches legal battle to save the ‘world’

Chris Johnstone — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:05:07 +0000

A Prague council is launching a legal battle aimed at wresting ownership of a crumbling, historic entertainment complex out of the hands of its current Italian owner for failing to take the promised steps to save the landmark.

The building at the center of the battle is Libeň’s Palác Svět (known as the Globe or World Palace in English), a First Republic-era restaurant, cinema and entertainment complex that in its heyday attracted the likes of the Czech writer Bohumíl Hrabal, counterculture poet Egon Bondy and painter Vladimír Boudník.

Prague’s biggest real estate tender could fail again

Kateřina Menzelová — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:43:33 +0000

The Prague 7 district has already been looking for a new location for its Town Hall for an incredible 17 years now, with the moving date set for 2015. The most recent attempt was a fiasco; just ahead of signing the purchase contract, the competition was canceled. One might expect that this time around, councilors would make sure things went smoothly and prepare a “bulletproof” contract for the biggest developers in order to polish the district’s sullied reputation. Alas, the opposite is true.

Controversial plans to demolish Wenceslas Square site proceeding

Kateřina Menzelová — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:25:31 +0000

A UK property developer is pushing ahead with plans to demolish an historic central Prague building in the face of a furore from conservationists that the building on the corner of the famous Wenceslas Square and Opletalová street could be sacrificed for a modern steel and glass edifice.

Developer Flow East, founded and headed by British businessman James Woolf, presented its plans to Prague 1 council’s development commission at the start of September with the target of winning demolition approval within around six months.

PPF’s Chinese connections in ECM liquidation

Kateřina Menzelová — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:20:01 +0000

As the Czech proverb goes, “in every rumor there’s an element of truth.” For weeks now there has been speculation that the insolvency administration and subsequent decision to liquidate the property developer ECM Real Estate Investments has been directed by Czech billionaire Petr Kellner’s PPF Group. The latest developments suggest that this is indeed the case, or could it be just a combination of coincidences?

Here’s a very brief summary of the main developments to date in the ECM case:

Sell-off of ECM assets underway. Will PPF buy?

Kateřina Menzelová — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:51:32 +0000

In the Czech Republic, ECM Real Estate Investments is best known for its large multi-functional City Pankrác project which was partly designed by the architect Richard Meier, but the developer’s portfolio also includes a diverse range of assets in the Czech regions, Poland, Russia and China. On July 20, the company’s creditors were given powers to vote at a creditors meeting and subsequently voted to send the company into liquidation, thus ECM has become the first large Czech developer to go bust.

Culture Minister set to plunder another Prague treasure

Bohumil Studýnka — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:41:58 +0000

Culture Minister Jiří Besser (TOP 09) has canceled the cultural heritage protection status bestowed upon the Gothic cellars unearthed in the historic medieval core between Prague’s Old and New Towns, in a move that directly benefits prominent investor and Sebastian Pawlowski, a developer who has done multi-billion crown deals with Prague City Hall.