REAL ESTATE NEWS

Development of Rohan Island

Urbanization of the last neglected location in the center

A unique opportunity has presented itself when one of the last non urban locations in Prague became available to developers. This desolate island with only few remains of construction booths is going to be transformed into a brand new neighborhood.

Prague City Hall representatives have begun evaluating bids by the 17 investors interested in developing the 20 hectares of the devastated part of Rohan Island, in very close proximity to the city center yet surrounded by greenery and located on the riverbank.

Price would range between 10,000 CZK to 20,000 CZK per square meter. The city revenue should be around one billion CZK for the land. Few major players in the development market are interested including J&T Group, Immorent of Austria and Sekyra Group.

While the future park project exists only on paper at the moment, the preparatory stages have already cost hundreds of millions of crowns. This year, the city will pay 208 million CZK to shift utilities, demolish old buildings and handle ecological clearing. The state will pay its due share, with state-owned Povodí Vltavy covering the costs of renewing the river basin to make Rohan a separate island again.

All the companies participating in the tender must bear in mind the island's new image - Green Island founded on the concept of saving energy and being environmentally friendly. The second round of the tender will take place in autumn, with the new owner of the Rohan Island development to emerge at the beginning of 2008.