REAL ESTATE NEWS

A New Manhattan in Brno?

The city of Brno plans to overshadow Prague's highest skyscraper by building a new city tower rumored to be over 109 meters high.

Major developments are ahead in Brno, just ask the mayor. “Please build it higher than 110 meters,” Roman Onderka pleaded with investors recently at a discussion concerning the future of Brno. The mayor is certain the city is ready for such architecture. Numerous locations have been verified where investors could spend billions of Czech crowns to develop building plans for towers reaching over 50 meters high. The Brno city center is off limits as height constraints for new constructions have been in effect for years.

The city does in fact have the perfect location picked out. Brno has been encouraging and campaigning for the southern section of the metropolis as the ideal location for new skyscrapers. Among the tall giants would also be housing, offices, idyllic pedestrian streets with local stores as well as entertainment complexes. To add to this perfect equation, the city also wishes to move the central train station from the city center to the south. If the city's wish is fulfilled the development of this area will only be natural.

The mayor also stated that “skyscrapers are an integral part of the new modern face of the fast developing city of Brno.” According to a recent ballot, the majority of Brno's population agree with their mayor. Most residents though prefer groupings of tall buildings rather than a solitary skyscraper, although they were quick to state that they would not say no to a single skyscraper if it was to be designed by exceptional first-rate architects.

Brno's first two skyscrapers located in the southern area are set to be finished in the summer of 2009; the first being a 20 story high office / residential building and the second a 16 story hotel. There are three more serious candidates being considered according to the city planning unit; could one of these be the 110 meter high tower the mayor wishes for?

The investors and architects are ready to build straight into the sky, but first must deal with bureaucratic and technical difficulties. Developers must first have sewage systems finished and permission from city hall, which proves difficult when more interested parties emerge.