10 years after its entry into the Czech Republic as a real estate investor the Austrian-based IMMOFINANZ Group now underscores its commitment to this northern neighboring market by intensifying its commercial development activities. The first development project will be the refurbishment of a historic building right in the heart of Prague's Old Town, in Jindrisska 16. Construction works started recently and are scheduled to be finalized in July 2013. The investment amounts to 24.6 million.
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The building is aiming for LEED Gold certification.
"We acquired this building together with Lordship in a 50:50 joint venture from CSOB in January 2006," commented Eduard Zehetner, Chairman of the Executive Board of IMMOFINANZ Group.
"In order to have clear responsibilities we acquired Lordship's share last year. Full control over this development will allow us to realize the project on time and within budget for the benefit of our investors," Zehetner added, pleased over the future prospects of the project.
The full takeover of Jindrisska 16 also marks another milestone in the consequent realization of IMMOFINANZ Group's strategy to develop non-controlling interests into majority holdings or to sell these investments.
Jindrisska 16 is located in the heart of Prague's city center close to Wenceslas Square near the Jindrisska Bell Tower. A prime business location and outstanding accessibility by all three metro lines, several tram lines and Prague's main train stations are the project's most valuable assets.
The architect of the reconstruction and new extension is the respected Prague-based atelier DaM architects. "Jindrisska 16 is one of many historic places in Prague's heritage city center that were built at the beginning of the 20th Century but have been neglected for decades. It is a great honour for us to contribute to the revival of this exciting building", said Richard Dolezal, Partner of DaM architects.
"Our design work was driven mainly by the idea to create a future-oriented, sustainable office environment that will benefit from the charm of the historic building stock as well as architectural and technological state-of-the art renewals."
The refurbishment design was created in close cooperation with Prague's heritage department and protects all important original architectural elements such as the facade of the building, the inner structure of the historical section, the representative staircases, windows, fittings, etc. Together with the new state-of-the-art structure, these reconstructed genuine parts will give Jindrisska 16 a unique character and atmosphere.
After completion Jindrisska 16 will offer 6,800 m² of class-A office and retail space in the historical and the new parts of the property as well as an automatic parking system. The building's flexible floor plan layout will make it possible to choose between cellular or open-plan offices.
"Our aim is to develop high-end office and retail space in Jindrisska 16, meaning attractiveness does not end with the architectural design. On the contrary: We want to offer our tenants an addressing, comprehensive service package", explained Ralph Bezjak, H
