Building work on the office building, built by Penta Real Estate from the investment group Marku Adviva and in which the highest monthly rent received over the amount of over thirty euros per square meter, but certainly does not end.
The mentioned golden wedge, which is probably the most visible element of the design by the late architect Zaha Hadid, is still missing. Especially on the western side of the building is the construction of golden parts, which was made by Sipral Leopold Bares, extremely complex.
Now the Masaryk's cloak is just finishing and at the end of the autumn is planned planting of a new alleys in Na Florence Street.
During the coming weeks, individual restaurants and cafes in the parterre will also open. And companies move into offices. In addition to Penta himself, which will move its headquarters from opposite the standing Florentine, Masaryka will also be the seat of Fio banka or Veolia and Boston Consulting Group.
Here are the main milestones of the project, which after more than six years of discussion and two years of construction is coming to an end.
What about the station?
Today's Masaryk Station was the first ever railway station railway station in Prague. And an important node of the city. In the 1990s, however, gradually declined its importance and began to appear voices calling for its abolition.
In 2002, Czech Railways announced a competition for new land use, which were decades under construction closure. Two years later, Masaryk Station Development was established to develop the territory around the station.
First competition
The first proposals for what the territory around Masaryk Station should look like in the future, began in 2009, when Masaryk Station Development announced an ideological competition attended by Roman Koucký, David Vávra, Federico Díaz or David Černý.
Other studies followed, but stuck at a dead point, and in 2010 at least began with the revitalization of the historic part of Masaryk Station. In the end, the Ministry of Transport decided on its definitive preservation.
Penta enters the game
Since 2004, preparations for the development of the territory around Masaryk Station have not moved particularly, and at the beginning of the next decade the property conditions at Masaryk Station Development changed. Even in 2010, Ing Real Estate, which suppressed its activities in the Czech Republic, appeared. And in 2011 she took over the majority stake in the consortium with Czech Railways Penta Investments.
"From the beginning we have clearly declared that we are interested in the development of the surroundings of Masaryk Station," said Petr Palička, then project director of Penta Investments, now the head of the entire real estate part of Penta.
In 2013
In 2013, Prague approved a change in the land use plan to Brownfield in the vicinity of the station and in response to this was organized by Masaryk Station Development International Urban-Architectural Competition, inviting six Czech and six foreign studios.
Will build according to Zahy Hadid
In the competition, the investor selected the solution of the ZAHA Hadid Architects international studio and began discussion with the capital, conservationists, Prague 1 and consequently by the Institute of Planning and Development.
In 2016, the public learned about the design of the proposal. “We approached the world's top architects, including Daniel Libeskinda, and Zaha Hadid won the competition. We perceive it that every 100 years someone has the honor to create a new street in the center of Prague, so we approach the project with humility and great respect, ”said Děživa in May 2016 in a large interview for Forbes, in which the whole project exclusively He spoke.
The project was tuned for almost two years, during which time six different versions were created, until eventually Zaha Hadid sent the last one. The final proposal for the investor from the studio came only two days before the death of the British architect with Iraqi roots. "It is a sad end of the story, but all the stronger and all the more it commits us to make the best possible," Dospiva said.
The next stages are changing
But as is customary in Prague, the results of the architectural competition are still very long and the intricate way to lay the foundation stone. Any construction had to be preceded by architectural research, which began in 2017 and was uncovered over 240,000 findings.
A year later, the process of participation and comment on the public and institutions began. The criticism was aimed primarily at the part around the highway and further towards Florence. Its matter bothered representatives of the capital and the International Council for Monuments and Hospital, which is a UNESCO advisory body.
In agreement with the city, Penta eventually promised to announce a new architectural and urban competition, which was to take into account the requirements of Prague. However, cosmetic changes also received the first stage directly next to the historic station building. For example, greenery has been added and the buildings decreased by two meters compared to the original design.
The beginning of the construction
In February 2021, only archaeologists were not kicked into the country, but Penta itself could do so. The construction of the first stage began, the price of which eventually exceeded CZK 3.5 billion. And other parts of the monumental project gradually moved. For example, the construction of a hotel for 1.2 billion in Hybernská Street, which is now also completing Penta.
At the end of 2021 came a major shift for the next stage of the project towards Florence. Owners of land, especially Penta, but also ČSAD Praha Holding, plan to invest billions of crowns together.
The international urban competition, which investors announced in agreement with the capital, won the design of the consortium, where the Czech studios Unit architects and A69 as well as the Slovak-British office Marko & Placemeakers are represented.
According to their proposal, it is determined where there should be new streets, what should be in the territory of the square, how the right will work and what will be the typology and height of the planned buildings.
The building permit at the beginning of this year also received the Railway Administration, which is to gradually modernize the entire Masaryk Station. There will also be a roof of the yard, which will connect the hotel and its surroundings with Masaryčka through the park.