More expensive, but different. The developer will build eccentric houses in Prague
A giant Trifot sculpture, composed of gigantic cameras, with bulging camera lenses that watch passers-by. Futuristic box of the Cyber-dog winery, in which robots operate. The well-known works of the eccentric sculptor David Černý several years ago made the pedestrian zone in the middle of housing estates in Nové Butovice special, where the development company Trigema built several apartment buildings, offices and shops.
Now Trigema is preparing another building with David Černý and the Qarta architectural studio, an apartment building called Fragment, not far from the Invalidovna in Karlín. The situation began last year, will have 140 housing units, shops and services, to be in the fall of next year.
The building is as interesting as the others of the Black Works. It should have an unconventional facade and the shape of a reclining figure, complemented by gigantic statues. Trigema does not want to publish the final version yet. The first visualizations with huge figures supporting the house appeared the year before last, but they do not correspond to the final solution today.
In any case, Marcel Soural promises that Prague will get a truly unique house: “The very substance of the building is more or less a statue. the resulting effect is amazing, we have high expectations that the construction should be very popular in the final, “says the developer in an interview with SZ Byznys.
However, a non-traditional house with artistic elements is not cheap, according to the owner of Trigema, it will become more expensive by some 20 to 25 percent.
Crosses are a mess and a chance
The prices of flats in Prague are high in themselves, flats are the least affordable compared to metropolises in all neighboring countries. In addition, the company is on the verge of a crisis caused by coronavirus, economists predict an economic downturn, rising unemployment, declining incomes and purchasing power. Is an original and expensive apartment building like Fragment at all suitable for the present time?
Soural has no doubt about that. “When we go back to the 1930s and look beyond the sea, it was precisely during the great economic crisis that important buildings were built, which are still visited by the whole world,” he recalls. “The crisis is a problem, but on the other hand it can be seen as an opportunity. Opportunity to realize something at an affordable cost, costs in the end to try to withdraw and put the product on the market at a time when society and the economy is beginning to recover. Because waiting for everything to grow again and only then start building does not correspond to common sense or investor thinking, “he says in an interview.
On the other hand, he admits that he is not sure whether, after the economic downturn, there will be any interest in living in a house that is exceptional, and therefore more expensive. “We’ll see,” says Soural.
He still does not want to compromise on the demands on the form of the project. According to him, the exceptional external expression of the building should be “written” into the interior of the house. “It simply came to our notice then. It’s not a luxury, it’s not a fool, it’s just another. We want our buildings to be different from the standard buildings. We will see how clients react to this. I believe it will turn out well. “
The exceptional house does not want to sell Trigem to individual apartments and thus give in full to the future community of owners, for whom it is not certain how he will function as a caretaker. “Apartments will not be sold here, but rented. At some stage in the preparation of the building, we decided that the long-term operation of a house of 140 apartments, which is different and where there will be a lot of works of art, would not benefit the community of owners, where there will be 140 shareholders and where it will be difficult to agree on maintenance and overall real estate. That’s why we were looking for a way around it and leaving ownership to only one entity. This clearly showed us that the only option is rental housing, “describes Soural.
Trigema wants to remain the owner of the building even after its completion and keep it for a long time. This also corresponds to the strategy of Soural’s company, which, according to the owner, is to become an investment company more than a development and construction company.
Transformation of Trigema
“Our long-term goal is to transform into an investment company. We already have certain elements of the investment company, we keep more business entities active, buildings that we usually build ourselves. We would like to maintain this segment more and more, “he says.
Thus, other buildings, which are still in the stadium of preparations, should remain in the ownership of Trige, and David Černý will also take part there.
“David and I agreed three years ago to try to go together for a while, we created a project for the joint architectural studio Black n ‘Arch. It is through this studio that we try to put the concept of belonging between architects and artists into buildings. The fragment is our first such major major work, we also want to proceed in this way on the projects of the Golden Distillery, the Top Tower in Nové Butovice, and other projects are being prepared, ”says Soural.
Zlatý distillery is the name of the future apartment complex on the site of the old Zlíchov distillery. The Top Tower is supposed to be the tallest Czech building and the dominant feature of the pedestrian zone by the metro in Nové Butovice, where Trigema has been building for several years. The tower with apartments, offices, shops and an observation deck will take the form of a rusty tanker wreck rising to the sky from a post-apocalyptic flood.
Even with these planned original buildings, Trigema expects to rent apartments and a long-term ownership share.
Soural’s belief that distinctive architecture is used in Prague regardless of the fluctuations of the economic cycle also records the long-term development of the housing market.
Their prices in Prague are not falling despite crisis expectations, demand still exceeds supply. Therefore, residential development is still doing well, this segment of the real estate business and the coronavirus crisis have not affected in any way.
Space for rent
According to developers, the capital needs at least eight thousand new apartments sold annually to satisfy market interest. Although housing construction has accelerated slightly in recent years, just over 5,000 housing units hit the market last year.
As Soural points out, the permitting of flats slowed rather than accelerated last year, despite the efforts of the town halls, as the authorities paralyzed covid quarantines and illness. According to him, the offer of development companies is still barely half that of the market.
According to the owner of Trigema, the lack of flats will lead, among other things, to a further strengthening of the rental housing segment, as owner-occupied housing will still be unavailable to most people in Prague.
“But we will actually get closer to the western model, where in some countries there is a 50:50 ownership and rental housing. We still have a ratio of about 75:25 in favor of owner-occupied housing, so there is a lot of space for the offer of rental apartments. This is also the reason why we would like to keep the buildings we build and which we like a lot and we do very well in our portfolio for a long time, ”says Soural in an interview.
Trigema intends to strengthen not only its real estate investments, but also its tourism industry. We published part of the interview, in which Marcel Soural describes his plans for the development of the Monínec and Samota ski resorts or wineries in Moravia.