The Kotva department store is set for a year-long renovation, which is expected to start next year

Prague - The Kotva department store in Prague is set for a roughly year-long renovation that is expected to begin next year. The cost of the repairs will be in the billions of crowns. During the reconstruction, the department store will be closed. Today, the director of OD Kotva, Marek Vavřina, informed ČTK about this. It is the largest project of the developer Prague Property Management (PSN), which owns the department store. According to Vavřina, the renovation has approval from the original architects. Last year, the Ministry of Culture declared the building a cultural monument.

"During the renovation, it will be closed. Therefore, it will take a shorter time than if we were doing it gradually with limited operation. This will mean less burden on the surroundings and it will also be cheaper," said Vavřina.

"The documentation for the reconstruction of the Kotva department store has been conditionally approved by the NPÚ," said Ondřej Šefců, the director of the Prague regional office of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ), today. According to him, there were objections concerning some interventions in the spatial layout, demolition of ceilings, replacement of the building envelope, and advertising boards in the lobby.

"The investor is in certain ways communicating with the author of the original design, architect Věra Machoninová. It is therefore clear that the Kotva department store will be preserved; a lot will depend on the execution of the construction, architectural details, and of course the new use and purpose of the building," he added. However, the binding opinion required to obtain permission is issued by the heritage department of the municipality.

Developer PSN acquired Kotva in 2016 from the Irish consolidation agency NAMA. In the last two years, it has been working on a detailed business concept that aims to transform the building into a modern "department store" and rank it among the most prestigious department stores in world metropolises. "We collaborated with a foreign team of consultants who have experience from department stores like Selfridges in London or CUM and Cvetnoj in Moscow. We plan to place more than 800 brands in Kotva. We have already made agreements with about half of them," added Vavřina.

According to him, the facade from the outside will only be chemically cleaned; changes will concern the interior of the facade and the replacement of some technologies, such as cooling, heating, or lighting. "We consider the building a gem of brutalist architecture, so we do not want to change anything fundamental. The facade is internally contaminated with asbestos that needs to be removed. In coordination with the Institute of Planning and Development, which plans to revitalize Revoluční Street, we want to clean and adjust the surrounding spaces," Vavřina stated.

PSN plans to open the space to other investors. "We have money prepared for it. But it is our largest project, and this way we want to reduce our exposure in it," noted Vavřina, who is a staff member of PSN.

PSN has tasked the consulting firm Deloitte with finding a financial partner. "This is a unique opportunity to enter an advanced project to restore the unique and most famous department store in the Czech Republic. We expect that the investment appreciation will be above-average for investors," added Deloitte partner Miroslav Linhart.

The Kotva department store opened in 1975 as an example of a luxurious Czechoslovak department store. At the time it was put into operation, Kotva was the fifth largest department store in Europe, with a sales area of 22,160 square meters, capable of serving up to 75,000 customers daily thanks to its 2,000 employees. The building, laid out as interlinked hexagons, was designed by the couple Věra and Vladimír Machonin and is often regarded as one of the most significant Czech buildings of the first half of the 1970s.

After 1989, Kotva and other department stores had to face newly emerging modern shopping centers. The department store long struggled with insufficient interest in renting retail spaces, leaving some floors with vacant sales areas.