Tomáš Trčka (Trigea): The worst of the repricing is over
Western Europe has gone through a pretty substantial repricing of real estate assets. Many people question why they've been so steady here, relatively speaking, suggesting the domestic funds are inexperienced. Does the volume of local capital create its own market?...
Radka Novak: Prague office space running out
Is it time to panic? As Prague’s office pipeline begins to go dry, that’s a question corporations with large office space needs may start asking. It’s no secret that it’s been nearly two years since a major new office development got underway. The only major projects...
Jan Kotrbáček (C&W): Wenceslas Sq. reconstruction has sparked fresh retail demand
Renewed energy is building at the bottom of Wenceslas Square, and it’s largely the result of reconstruction work that finished roughly a year ago. The design for the square’s new look was drawn up by the architect Jakub Cigler back in 2005, but the typical opponents...
Sebastien Dejanovski (Mint Investments): Investment takes clear thinking
In terms of residential, you’ve generally gone after mid-market projects. With Metropolis, you didn’t even plan to develop the project yourself. Now you’re finishing a luxury project in a prime location. How did that happen? Development is not our core business. We...
Fallout from the Nový hlavák competition
Three partners (DPP, Správa železnic and the City of Prague, represented by IPR) came together around Prague's "Sherwood" (the sarcastic nickname given to the park in front of the main station). The primary idea was to revitalize and create something functional,...
Vladimir Bolek (IAD): Asset growth takes work
Vladimir Bolek is a member of the board at IAD Investments, which has over €2 billion in assets under management across Central Europe. The market is quite slow at the moment. As an investor, is that useful since there’s less competition for assets? Or are you in...
Digitization of real estate and construction gaining steam
The dot-com bubble popped over 20 years ago and the iPhone is already more than a decade old. So, why does the dream of digitizing the construction and real estate industry remain more than dream than reality? It’s not for lack of trying, at least not on the part of...
Fred Hlobil: New industrial vacancy is denting rents
With the benefit of hindsight, was it a good idea to start your business in the middle of a crisis? I think it was definitely a good idea. The whole market has a different dynamic now. There’s been a big change, in the sense that until Covid, the market was controlled...