A new district with 3,500 flats should be built at the O2 Arena in Prague 9
Updates: 10/19/2021 1:17 PM
Released: 19.10.2021, 11:30
Prague – A new district should be built instead of unused production halls near the 02 Arena in Prague 9. Its core should be Emil Kolben Square, apartment buildings, schools and a technical center should be built. Prague 9 wants to buy land from Howden ČKD Compressors and participate in the creation of a new district. The mayor of the ninth city district, Tomáš Portlík (ODS), told the press.
The planned future appearance of the city district near the O2 Arena is proposed by an urban study prepared by the architect Jiří Řezák from the Qarta architecture studio. In the roughly ten-hectare locality delimited by Českomoravská, Freyova, Ocelářská and Lisabonská streets, about 3,500 flats, a new primary and nursery school and an educational technical center should be built.
In the new center of Vysočany, the town hall would like to visit the legacy of the factory owner Emil Kolben and the technical tradition of Vysočany. According to Portlík, an educational center focused on the popularization of science and modern technology could be established in the new district. “We would like to transfer the industrial past of Prague 9 to the present and discover a center that would attract young people and children to modern technology such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, 3D printing and more,” said the mayor. Prague 9 has also prepared a survey where residents of Vysočany ask what type of civic amenities they lack the most and what could be on the planned Emil Kolben Square.
The new square should connect to the area at 02 Arena. According to the designers, its position should create a place for meeting the inhabitants of Vysočany, which is missing in the originally industrial district. It should be the dominant element of the new district with apartment buildings and office buildings. These are already being set up near the O2 Arena. For example, Syner is now building a 10-story building with offices in the former parking lot next to the Backstage.
Brownfields now own six companies and several private individuals. Prague 9 would like to buy land of approximately three hectares from Howden ČKD Compressors. The town hall wants to negotiate with the owners of the surrounding lands so that they can follow the prepared urban study in the future use of these lands. This is to become the basis for a change in the zoning plan, which allows the reconstruction of the area with unused old factory buildings. According to its mayor, Prague 9 wants to be the one who will have a decisive say in the transformation of the territory and will directly manage the development of the locality.
Prague 9, which is still inhabited by 58,050 inhabitants, forming the cadastral territory of Prosek and parts of the cadastral territories of Vysočany, Hrdlořez, Střížkov, Hloubětín, Libeň and Malešice.