At the main train station, constructions worth billions are likely to arise

Prague - Two administrative centers and a hotel between the University of Economics and the main train station, five buildings with luxury apartments nearby, and a modern architectural structure behind the former National Assembly, which its creators hope will compete in vision with, for example, the Dancing House. This is the intention of the CR-City company to transform the area surrounding Prague's main train station into the city center. The entire project will cost the investor about four billion.
As the first of the proposed projects, construction of 150 apartments between Spanish and Italian streets next to Riegrovy Sady has already begun, said Jan Hromádka, a representative of the investor CR-City, to ČTK today. One-third partners in CR-City are Czech Railways, on whose land the construction is to take place, as well as a British investment firm and Sudop Group, where Hromádka is the CEO.
Administrative centers are to be established on one side of Winston Churchill Square, where the other two sides are formed by the University of Economics and the House of Trade Unions. According to the investor, the new building will be directly above the metro station of the future D line, offering 40,000 square meters of usable space. Next to the center, the company plans to construct a hotel with 220 beds.
Together with the apartments, which could be sold for 75,000 crowns per square meter according to the investor's estimates, the new project occupies an area of three hectares. "We expect that construction could start in 2008 and be completed by the end of 2010," Hromádka stated regarding the start of construction of the administrative buildings and hotel at Winston Churchill Square.
Another project, still in the preparatory stage, would significantly change the area between the National Museum, the National Assembly, and Spanish Street behind the main train station's rail yard, and would also be visible from Wenceslas Square.
"By covering the narrowed part of the entrance to the Vinohradský tunnel, we are creating an area of 150 by 150 meters, where we want to create a very atypical building, with unusual shapes, construction, and concept. Its significance could be comparable to the issue of the Dancing House," Hromádka believes.
According to him, CR-City expects that in October the zoning plan will change, allowing the company to develop the necessary initial project documentation. "I envision that all project documentation could be completed by the end of 2008 and implementation could be finished by the end of 2010," Hromádka noted about the project, which he estimates could cost up to one billion crowns.