REAL ESTATE NEWS
Prague meets Venice
London Docklands. Hamburg Hafencity. Venetian old town. Beautiful views over dramatic riversides or astounding seaside views. Even though Prague is not exactly a sea resort we can find significant development of its riverside areas during the last couple of years.
It seems a little bit suspicious, but Prague, internationally acknowledged as the "city of thousand spires," is showing all the signs that it will host the next riverside success and resurrection of real estate market. First, there's the effort of many real estate developers, who've shown both enthusiasm and financial commitment, in various parts of the Prague 8 district. This is an area that now contains more than 10 percent of Prague's business and commercial offices. Karlín and Libeň, districts which are the prolongations of the city center, experienced a heyday of Prague property development in the 19th century giving rise to an interesting mixture of industrial buildings and classicist architecture. The potential for conversion and redevelopment has been tapped into only in the last decade. Prague's Mayor Pavel Bém and other city authorities recognized the potential in the area: ,,Among localities situated in the vicinity of the historic city center, only a very few can yield the conceptual and urbanistic potential that is found in Karlín and Libeň. In this sense, Prague 8 represents a unique development area which is set to be transformed beyond recognition in the years to follow." Among the most exciting projects ranks so called residential and commercial project Libeň Docks (Libeňské doky), a complete revitalization and redevelopment of 6.5 hectares of riverside land on the Vltava river's meander. Real Estate Karlín Group has hosted its third international architectural workshop, focused on Rohanský ostrov in Karlín. Twelve architectural studios gave their input on the forthcoming River Gardens project, which will link up with Real Estate Karlín Group's already-successful River Diamond residential development. River Garden is expected to be completed in five to ten years. In the end, a complete residential, office, and retail plan was created - call it a Prague Docklands. Another new housing project taking shape on the Czech Docklands in Prague 7-Holešovice, which will contain almost 350 apartments, ranging from studio flats to spacious penthouses is called Prague Marina. In addition to Apartments the buildings will include restaurants, coffeehouses and other services. An extensive landscaped green area will provide a recreational zone with plenty of room for both active leisure and relaxation. And don't forget that everything is followed by an astonishing view of the river Vltava. For those who wish to invest in apartments in the Prague 8 area there are already a lot of opportunities to get involved. According to a local estate agency that has a number of projects in the area, units in one of their luxury 230-apartment residential developments are selling quickly, just a few properties down from Libeň Docks, and recent announcements prove that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Along with expansion of city parkland and a new golf course, a further 1,200+ riverside apartments are slated to be built over several phases in the vicinity in the coming years.< back