The Austrians will build new offices in the center of Prague for 1.1 billion CZK

Prague - The Austrian real estate group Immofinanz Group intends to convert two older buildings in the center of Prague into new offices. The total amount of the investment will be approximately 45 million euros, or about 1.1 billion crowns. Construction work on the project in Jindřišská Street has already begun, while the project in Jungmannova Street is awaiting building permits. Company representatives announced this today at a press conference.
Immofinanz, together with the company Lordship, purchased the building at the corner of Politických vězňů Street and Jindřišská, along with other properties, in 2006 from ČSOB. "However, we wanted to take full responsibility for the project, so we bought out Lordship's share last year," said Eduard Zehetner, Chairman of the Board of Immofinanz.
The Austrian developer is confident enough in the project in Jindřišská that it is financing it from its own resources and without pre-arranged tenants. The monthly rent in the building will be approximately 24 euros (about 598 crowns). The total investment in the Jindřišská 16 project is expected to be 24.6 million euros (approximately 613 million crowns). The architect of the project, which will include not only the original building but also a completely new part, is the architectural office DaM.
The largest plan for the construction of offices in the center of the capital was recently announced by the Penta group. An administrative complex with a gross floor area of 49,000 square meters will be built on the site of the former headquarters of Rudé právo at Florence. The construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2013, similar to the project in Jindřišská, which aims to offer 6,800 square meters of office space.
The Austrians are not afraid of competition from Penta. "Our product has a completely different character," noted Ralph Bezjak, Director of Immofinanz for the construction of commercial properties.
Immofinanz's portfolio includes 36 properties in the Czech Republic valued at 624.8 million crowns (around 15.5 billion crowns). The company owns, for instance, 16 office buildings and a network of Stop.Shop retail parks in the domestic market. Together with Lordship, Immofinanz is currently converting the former ČSOB headquarters on Na Příkopě Street into fashion retail and office spaces. The expected value of planned projects in the Czech Republic upon completion is estimated to be 115.2 million euros (about 2.9 billion crowns).
In eight markets in Central and Eastern Europe, the group owns a total of 1,600 investments worth approximately 8.7 billion euros (about 217 billion crowns).
The net profit of the group increased in the accounting half-year ending in October 2011 to 265.1 million euros (about 6.6 billion crowns) from 108.3 million euros (around 2.7 billion crowns) a year earlier.