Skanska officially opened up its Port7 project, 36,000 sqm of new office and retail space. While the leasing market hasn’t been hot, just over half of the offices have been taken. Skanska used the event space in one of its new tenants, Scott.Weber, to host a gathering of journalists, followed by a tour of the premises. It’s a sign of the co-working operator’s growing domination of the market that it’s managed to open space in another premium office building. There’s a Scott.Weber location on just the other side of the Holešovice station after all and they recently opened another new one in The Park in Chodov – Prague 4 and expanded at The Flow Building.
Founder Adam Zvada said that with people putting ever-more emphasis on spending ever-fewer hours commuting, demand for new locations near popular residential areas would continue rising. “That’s why I don’t think Prague is a saturated market for us,” he said. “People don’t want to travel to work every day and then back. We’re not as big a city as some of the world’s metropolises, but we still hear this. That’s why we’re looking to continue to develop our network, not just in the CBD but in residential zones because people want centers in Prague 6, Vysočany, Strašnice and other locales.”
Skanska has now built Port7’s five office buildings, but there are two more apartment buildings to go on the former cement panel factory. It’s a spectacular north-facing location along the river set between the Barakadnik road bridge and the rather newer Trojsky bridge for trams and pedestrians. From an urbanism point of view, it opens up the embankment local residents and visitors. Skanska participated in the extension of a bike lane along the river and the cultivation of the previously abandoned area which has lain derelict for decades.
“The goal from the day one was to make the most of this space and its history while addressing its issues,” says project manager Jan Hes. “We cleaned up the entire area, built connections to the city with an underpass which literally opened the area for public, and breathed new life into it with a large green park, turning it into a lively urban riverfront.” DAM.architekti and AED projekt are responsible for the development’s design.
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