Assistant: The basis of the agreement with developers in Bubny could be in September

Prague – The basic outlines of an agreement with developers planning to build on the brownfield site of Bubny-Zátory between the Vltavská and Nádraží Holešovice metro stations could be ready after the summer. The city will continue negotiations during the next electoral term. This was stated to reporters today by Prague Deputy Mayor Petr Hlaváček (STAN). The city hall recently published an updated land-use study of the development, which the public can comment on until July 13.

The largest so-called development area in Prague, similar to the Smíchov or Žižkov brownfields, is located on railway land around the former freight station. Developers plan to build thousands of apartments there and the city will establish a concert hall at Vltavská.

According to Hlaváček, the published study is the penultimate step towards allowing development of the brownfield, with the final step being the planning contracts, which the new Prague zoning plan conditions for construction. The extensive land in Bubny was previously owned by CPI Property Group of Radovan Vitek, which subsequently sold half of its stake to J&T Group, and recently the same company purchased the remaining share.

The change of ownership, according to Hlaváček, has not disrupted negotiations so far. "The same people continue to represent that company," he said, adding that some impacts, however, cannot be ruled out in the future. "At this moment, it is also in the hands of individual owners how much they will support the agreed solution, or whether they will come up with another series of specific requests that will need to be negotiated further," added the director of the land-use department of the city hall, Filip Foglar.

The published land-use study is an update of an earlier version approved in 2020, which the city hall modified based on negotiations with landowners or Prague 7. According to the proposal, the area is expected to accommodate an additional 22,500 residents and about 10,000 apartments. Two new local centers are to be located near both metro stations, with the one at Vltavská being linked to the planned concert hall. The center of the district is to be formed by a park. According to Foglar, the proposal also considers an adequate amount of civic amenities, such as schools and kindergartens.

According to architect Petr Pelčák, who collaborated on the study, the aim was not to design a new self-contained district, but to organically connect the already existing development separated by the brownfield. Green spaces are just as important as the buildings, according to the architect. "The central park, whose axis connects the important sub-centers of the two stations, forms the backbone of the new development," he said.

Planning contracts are a tool for the city to negotiate both the shape of proposed developments with landowners and to obtain so-called contributions from them for the construction of necessary public infrastructure. The contributions derive from a methodology developed by the city, which began preparation in the previous electoral term. The institute of planning contracts was introduced by the new building law.