Developer Sekyra Group has started construction of another, southern part of a new district on plots of land around the former freight station in Prague. Representatives of the investor, the state, the capital city and Česká spořitelna, which will have its new headquarters in the district, told journalists today. In addition to that, the southern part of the district, called Smíchov City by the developer, will include three more office buildings and a hotel. The construction of the entire project started in 2020 and will cost CZK 35 billion, with another CZK 15 billion in public investment.
The company has already completed the first part of the project, which consisted of mostly residential buildings around the Na Knížecí bus terminal. “After the successful completion of the first, residential phase, our attention is shifting to the area around the Smíchov terminal, where the largest of the four phases of the project will be built,” Luděk Sekyra, chairman of the board of Sekyra Group, said today. He added that the phase now underway should be completed in three to four years.
The dominant feature of the southern part of the district will be the Česká spořitelna campus, which should be as open to the public as possible, according to the bank’s CEO Tomáš Salomon. It will consist of four buildings with an area of about 75,000 sqm, between which will run a boulevard connecting the Smíchov railway station with the Na Knížecí locality, which will be named after Madeleine Albright. Other streets and public spaces in the district will also bear women’s names.
At the same time, Sekyra Group is preparing the construction of four more residential blocks with 800 flats in the northern part of the project, which should start at the turn of this year and next year. The last, fourth part of the development will be adjacent to Radlická Street. According to Sekyra, the entire district should be completed in 2032.
The project is also related to the extensive public investments that the state and the capital city are making or preparing in the area. The state is investing five billion in the railway junction at Smíchov railway station, and work has already begun. Transport Minister Martin Kupka (ODS) said today that railway junctions in modern metropolises are becoming important centres in the vicinity of which people work or spend their leisure time, which is also the goal in Smíchov.
The Prague City Council plans to add another floor above the station, where it wants to move the Na Knížecí bus station. The project will also include a P+R car park. The construction is expected to start at the end of next year and will take five to seven years.
A primary school will also be built in the new district, which is being prepared by the Prague 5 City Council. In the past, the latter had difficulties agreeing on financing the construction with the municipality due to the high costs, but according to Mayor Radka Šimková (Praha 5 Sobě), both parties are currently close to an agreement. According to the mayor, representatives of the municipality have tentatively agreed to take over and pay for the construction and to contribute to the construction of another primary school in Košíře.
In exchange, the borough would turn over to the capital two school buildings that now house private colleges whose leases are expiring. The municipality would use the buildings to set up secondary schools, where it is addressing a shortage of places.
Source: Sekyra Group and CTK
Photo: SMÍCHOV CITY – SM1
