E15: The Černý Most Shopping Center will expand to nearly three times its size

Prague - The Prague shopping center Černý Most will nearly triple in size. The company Unibail-Rodamco, which owns it, plans to extend the shopping areas up to the entrance of the neighboring metro station. This is reported by today’s E15. The current area of the center, 52,000 square meters, will increase to 138,500 square meters.
    "In the medium term, we will close all parking lots around and connect them with the existing building, thus creating one large center. We will place new parking spaces underground and on the roof," said Martin Macháč, the commercial director of Unibail-Rodamco for the Czech Republic, to the newspaper. Up to 140 new stores or dining establishments are to be established.
    The first phase of the expansion should be completed in 2010. It will be directed towards the metro, and besides parking areas, it will also occupy the neighboring meadow. The shopping center will expand by 38,000 square meters. The second phase will cover the remaining parking lots towards the opposite shopping center behind Chlumecká Street and the areas towards the entertainment center and the Ikea store. This will add another 48,500 square meters.
    The Černý Most center is expected to resemble the tenant composition of the Chodov Center, the second major project of Unibail-Rodamco in the Czech Republic. "Chodov is currently profiling itself more as a branded affair. Černý Most, by having a dominant hypermarket," stated Macháč. According to him, the center is currently focused on the middle-income group, and in the future, the company aims to target "higher categories."
    Unibail-Rodamco is an investor and developer of commercial real estate, operating in 15 European countries. The company was formed last year by the merger of the Netherlands-based Rodamco Europe and the French conglomerate Unibail. The company’s portfolio exceeds 25 billion euros (approximately 630 billion CZK). It specializes in shopping centers, offices, and exhibition sites. In the Czech Republic, besides the Černý Most and Chodov centers, it is preparing the Arkády Pankrác project together with the German developer ECE.