The Prague department store Máj bought Amádeus Real from Tesco

Prague - The new owner of the Prague department store Máj, which in recent years has been known as My, has today become the development company Amádeus Real. The company announced this to ČTK in a press release. The price for which the department store was purchased from the current owner, the Tesco group, was not disclosed. After taking over the building, the company plans to renovate the facility, which is expected to start in the second half of 2020 and finish two years later.

The primary function of Máj on Národní street will remain the operation of shops after the completion of its modernization. The original Máj building is a protected monument, which will need to be respected during the modernization, the company stated.

According to an expert valuation by NSG Morison, which the Tesco chain published in the commercial register a year ago, the value of the property, after deducting all liabilities, is approximately 171 million crowns. Tesco had previously separated the department store into a standalone company. Amádeus Real thus became its new owner today by acquiring a 100% stake in the company Department store Prague, which was part of the Tesco Europe B.V. group prior to the final contracts coming into effect, said Amádeus Real’s media representative Karel Samec.

According to him, the composition and operation of the Tesco-owned shops in Máj will not change until the end of May. From June, Tesco will have only a supermarket and a smaller grocery store in the department store, and the new owner will lease the remaining areas to other retailers until the renovation begins.

Tesco has previously stated that it is looking for new uses for its department stores, which are several decades old, located in attractive locations, but need to be completely modernized. Amádeus Real, for example, purchased a department store from Tesco in Plzeň on Americká street two years ago.

The department store Máj was built on the site of the demolished neo-Gothic Šlik Palace and opened to the public in 1975. Tesco has owned the building since 1996. In 2006, the department store, which draws on elements of neo-functionalism in its shape and style, was declared a cultural monument due to its original construction. In the fall of 2009, it was largely renovated and renamed My. The department store has seven above-ground floors, with a rentable sales area of 12,000 square meters.

The new owner of the building is working on the planned proposals for its modernization with Prague conservationists, the city's Institute of Planning and Development (IPR), and the authors of the original building design, architects Martin Rajniš and Johnny Eisler, said Tomáš Jícha from Amádeus Real.