The Nile House building in Prague is completed

PRAGUE - Approximately two months after completion, the office building Nile House in the Prague district of Karlín is nearly half leased. Leasing of the entire building is anticipated during the next year. "Investment costs did not exceed one billion crowns," said Petr Urbánek from the development company Europolis at today's press conference in response to a question from ČTK. This is the second completed building out of a total of five in the River City Prague project.
Nile House has six above-ground and three underground floors. It offers 17,650 square meters of office space, 1,700 square meters of retail space, and 218 parking spaces. Similar to the completed Danube House, it is built as a low-energy building.
The rent for office space is 16.50 euros (approximately 500 CZK) per square meter per month. This amount is higher than in comparable office buildings in Prague, though overall rental costs are similar or lower, stated Monika Younis from Cushman&Wakefield Healey&Baker, which is handling leasing at Nile House. Rent for prime offices in the wider center of Prague ranges from 14 to 17.5 euros per square meter per month.
The architect of Nile House, like Danube House, is the London architectural firm Kohn Pederson Fox, which collaborated with the Czech studio Atrea. The building was constructed by Metrostav.
The River City Prague project further includes the office building Amazon Court, which is expected to begin construction in 2006 and be completed two years later. Construction of a hotel and hotel with apartments is likely to start in 2008. According to Urbánek's earlier comments, investments in the entire project will probably exceed 100 million euros, or approximately three billion crowns.
Demand in the office space market is expected to be higher this year than last, according to estimates by Cushman&Wakefield Healey&Baker. Last year, companies in Prague leased approximately 130,000 square meters; this year it is expected to be about 170,000 square meters. While the consulting firm does not anticipate rent growth in the wider center and outskirts of Prague, it expects pressure for higher prices in the city center.
Europolis is one of the significant real estate companies in Central and Eastern Europe. It manages over 20 projects; in addition to the Czech Republic, in Austria, Hungary, Poland, Croatia, and Romania. At the end of 2004, the total estimated value of the portfolio reached 900 million euros.