On one of the most lucrative plots in the Czech Republic, right next to Prague’s Masaryk Railway Station, the cranes of the Penta Investments investment group are already tirelessly delivering materials and the local construction site is living its own life. In front of passers-by, the skeleton of one of the most discussed buildings of decades is slowly setting the sun towards the sky.

The group of billionaire Marek Dospiva is simply building its Masaryk project to the fullest and is just attracting all the attention.

“The exhibition runs without complications. Among the more interesting things, we can mention the turn of October and November, when the builders will have to deal with the skeleton of the rotating piazza between the buildings and in March next year we will reach the highest point of construction, “concludes Pavel Streblov, Penta Real Estate’s director for commercial construction.

However, the whole and much larger area around the historic railway station and neighboring Florence is set to change. The place, which until now was rather one big traffic junction, is to change beyond recognition.

And Penta isn’t the only one who’s kicked the ground here. It is also busy on the other side of the main road, a large traffic artery that crosses Prague, where workers and machines work on the ČSAD site.

But let’s go back to Penta and her projects for a while. The group wants to complete two characteristic buildings right next to Masaryk Railway Station, designed by the studio of the late architect Zaha Hadid, and construction is in full swing in the middle of 2023. More than 22,000 square meters of commercial space are to be built there.

This first stage of the project directly at Masaryk railway station along Na Florenci Street means an investment of about 3.5 billion crowns. The whole project, the final form of which is now competing, will cost about ten billion. It is already certain that the next stages of construction will differ from the original design of the renowned British architect of Iraqi origin.

The construction of a hotel on the opposite side of Masaryk railway station at the intersection of Hybernská and Opletalova streets is also being prepared. Penta wants to start building the building at the turn of the year according to the design of the Czech studio Schindler Seko. but on how quickly Archaia will complete an on-site archaeological survey. According to Streblov, the investment in the construction of the hotel will exceed 1.1 billion crowns.

But as we have already mentioned, at the other end of the vast, which is to undergo a gradual but fundamental transformation, nothing is expected and built. Directly opposite the back of the Museum of the Capital City of Prague, ČSAD Praha Holding is building the Bastion Florenc office project for 400 million crowns.

“We are currently working on the concreting of the rough construction, we anticipate completion of the construction at the turn of Q1 and Q2 2022 and approval by the end of Q2 2022,” concludes Jan Benda, Director of Development at ČSAD Praha Holding. Commercial premises are planned on the first and second floors, and offices on the third to sixth floors. The building is to have a total of about 4,300 square meters of offices.

This story of the plot is also partly connected with Penta, but in this case it had a bad end for the investment group. The building will stand on land that has been favored by Dospiv’s company, but without success.

In the first visualization racing studios of Zaha Hadid in 2016, the Penta virtual buildings even stood on the lands of ČSAD Prague. So the company was sure it would get them for its purpose. However, this prompted ČSAD at the time, which confirmed that it would continue to prepare its own project and would not sell the land.

“Of course, their construction will affect the urban design of the entire site. In any case, our relations with ČSAD Prague are correct, this is also evident from the fact that we prepared an urban competition with them and the city for the development of the Masaryčka brownfield on the other side of the main road, ”says Streblov.

Even according to the head of development at ČSAD Bendy, the construction company Bastion Florenc really coordinates with the future development on the lands of Masaryk Station Development, ie Penta and České dráhy, in fundamental parameters such as height, level or permeability. Penta also confirms that it continues to anticipate the creation of a new square and additional public space in Florence.

“The permeability of the territory, as proposed in its Zaha Hadid study, will be maintained, which we consider essential. We reckon with the fact that ČSAD Prague has decided to use the land. More precisely, it is part of the conditions for urban competition, “adds Streblov.

It is only from the international urban planning competition that Prague announced this spring together with the landowners ČSAD Praha holding and Masaryk Station Development (a joint venture of Penta and České dráhy) that what the surroundings of Florence will look like in the future.

The competition was the result of negotiations between the city and investors on how the planned development is to continue from the highway to Florence. Zaha Hadid did not like the capital for several reasons, and Penta finally decided to rework part of the project.

The agreement also covered, for example, the content of the buildings, where Penta undertook to make up at least 40% of all the space created on site.

The jury selected a total of five studios for the finals of the competition, including the world-famous Danish architectural studio BIG Bjarke Ingels or the Czech studios A69 and UNIT architects. The teams are also to integrate already approved projects in the area into the urban design. The winner should be clear this autumn.

“According to the results of the competition to change the zoning plan. An architectural competition or architectural competitions will follow – depending on whether one or more architectural offices get a chance to change the territory, “describes Streblov.

Then it is time to develop a specific project, which the investor will go through the permitting process. “It will be an interesting experience, because it will already take place according to the new building law. We also expect suggestions from the professional and lay public, it is the city center and we definitely do not want to underestimate communication with the public, “adds the head of Penta Real Estate for commercial construction.

But Penta’s plans do not end with this territory. During the year, she also bought a plot of land from the Florenc metro exit towards the tram stop from Billa Reality. She owned a piece of the subway lobby where Billy’s business is located.

The developer is now planning another construction there called Centrum Florenc. But it is independent of Masaryk’s project. “It is not yet decided what we will build on the site. There is more variant, “says Streblov. However, it will probably be a properly-residential complex. A change in the zoning plan is currently being discussed for the land, which should allow the construction.