Penta Real Estate has received the building permit for Hybe, the conversion of a former Czech Post building on Hybernská 15 into a 6,300 sqm office and retail asset. The developer estimates total investment at CZK 1.1 billion. With demolition of the dated rear wing due to begin in April, new-build construction should get underway over the summer. Completion is targeted for the third quarter of 2028.
The project sits across the tracks from Penta’s Masaryčka project, that set a Prague benchmark by asking above €30 per sqm. Its design was led by Jakub Klaška who worked on the Masaryčka project during his time at Zaha Hadid Architects before founding his own practice. He’s preserved the vaulted arches of the original post office on the ground floor and opened them into a transparent parterre. Retail will occupy only that ground level; the upper floors are office.
But it’s the asking rents of €33 to €40 that will raise eyebrows and signal where Penta believes the Prague core now sits. Then there’s the smallest ground-floor retail unit, positioned at a transport hub feeding Masaryk Station, which lists at €60 per sqm. Hospodářské noviny cites Petr Kareš (iO Partners) as saying the location is simply worth more now. Along with Masaryčka, the opening of the Cloud One hotel has improved the environment along Hybernská street. Then there’s the planned walkway between Hybe and that hotel that will lead over the tracks to Na Florenci street.
The area may be getting nicer, if companies end up paying €40 per square meter, it will be a function of scarcity of supply of cutting edge, new office space. Prague office vacancy finished last year at 5.9 per cent, the lowest level since 2020, and the speculative pipeline in the center is thin.
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