In Prague's Pankrác, the construction of the Mayhouse building has commenced

Prague - The company PSJ has started the construction of the Mayhouse building in Pankrác, Prague, with total investment costs amounting to 443 million crowns. The investor of the project is the real estate group CPI Property Group, owned by billionaire Radovan Vítek. The building, which unsuccessfully bid for the headquarters of the European Banking Authority, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019. Jan Burian, spokesperson for CPI Property Group, announced this today.

"In preparing the project, we primarily focused on the efficient use of space for both larger and smaller companies. The building minimizes common corridors and is very flexible regarding the size of offices," stated Pavel Hain-Schmiedberský, manager of office building rentals at CPI Property Group.

The building will fill a gap on 5. května Street near the Prague ring road. It will offer a total of 7,700 square meters of space across six above-ground floors. More than 90 percent of this will be offices, with the remainder allocated for commercial spaces. It will also include an underground parking garage with a capacity of 69 spaces.

In the summer, the Czech Republic offered the building as a potential headquarters for the European Banking Authority (EBA), which will relocate from London after Brexit in the first half of 2019. Prague competed for the headquarters alongside Vienna, Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, Dublin, Luxembourg, and Warsaw. However, in November, the EU decided on Paris.

The value of the properties in CPI's portfolio was 157 billion crowns last year. The group increased its profit to 12.5 billion crowns, which was roughly ten billion more than in 2015. The company is the largest owner of retail space in the Czech Republic, owning 12,000 apartments and hotels with 11,000 beds. Vítek owns 90 percent of CPI shares. Forbes estimated Radovan Vítek's asset value at 57 billion crowns.