Investor may build a glass building instead of a hotel on the National site

Prague - The investor of the building on the corner plot on Národní Street in the center of the Prague Monument Reservation has received approval for a change to the project. Instead of a luxury hotel in the gap, a glazed building with shops, restaurants, offices, and apartments may arise. This was stated to ČTK today by the media representative of the investor, the company Sebre, František Vorel.
    "We have approved the change. It came into legal effect last week," said Oldřich Dajbych, head of the construction department for the Prague 1 area, to ČTK.
    Construction had begun at the beginning of this year. The investor took advantage of the fact that the preparatory work and foundation construction could rely on a building permit issued for the original intention.
    The company Sebre purchased the project along with a valid building permit for the hotel. Due to a decline in tourism and a high supply of accommodation capacities in the capital, the company decided to build a multifunctional building. The author of the new project is architect Stanislav Fiala.
    In the Palác Národní, there will be 2479 m² of shops and restaurants created, while the higher floors will provide 7655 square meters of space for studios and offices. A terrace will be built on the roof. Compared to the original design, the building will be roughly 2000 m² smaller.
    The project also includes the reconstruction of the neighboring baroque Schönkirch Palace, which is under heritage protection. During its survey, valuable historical paintings of wooden ceilings from the late 17th century and wall paintings were discovered.
    "We will preserve not only the valuable paintings on the walls and the painted wooden ceilings, the craftsmanship elements intended for restoration and refurbishment. We also value ordinary original building materials, such as bricks, sandstone, wooden beams, cobblestones from the old pavement, destroyed wooden parquet, as well as old tiles and slates that are no longer repairable. We are collecting and carefully storing all these materials to incorporate them into the new building," stated architect Fiala.
    The investor has not disclosed the cost of the project, but according to previous estimates, it should be around one billion crowns. In 2005, the city sold the land presumably for a record price of 234,700 crowns per square meter, totaling nearly 184 million crowns. The building is expected to be completed in 2016.