The former coking plant Karolina wants to be developed by ING Real Estate as well

OSTRAVA - ING Real Estate from the Dutch financial group ING Group is another company that wants to build a new part of the city with office buildings, apartments, a recreational area, and a retail and entertainment center on the site of the former Karolina coking plant near the center of Ostrava. The company is planning to invest between 300 million and 400 million euros (which is 8.7 billion to 11.6 billion crowns) into the development of the forty-hectare plot, which would represent one of the highest real estate investments in the Czech Republic, said the company's director Luděk Schmidt at today’s press conference.
Several other companies are also interested in acquiring the area, where a decontamination was carried out at a cost of nearly two billion crowns. The city of Ostrava owns most of the land. The Czech development company Passerinvest recently presented its project for the development of Karolina, estimated at around five billion crowns. German company ECE is also seeking to construct a shopping center at Karolina.
"The first offers from investors or developers are coming to the city. All are interesting, but the comparison and evaluation of which one would seem most suitable for the city is a question for the future. Although the councilors have already decided to organize an investor competition to revive Karolina, it has not yet been announced," said the city's chief architect Jaroslav Sedlecký to Czech News Agency (ČTK). According to him, about eight companies have expressed interest, of which about six have picked up the basic information package.
According to Schmidt, ING Real Estate aims to revitalize the entire Karolina area over the next eight to ten years, which should also create thousands of job opportunities. The construction would be spread over three phases. In the first phase, which the company wants to complete in three to five years, it plans to build infrastructure, a shopping center, a hypermarket, and several administrative buildings. It aims to finish these along with several thousand residential apartments in the second phase. In the final phase of construction, a relaxation area with bike paths and pedestrian walkways should be developed. Plans also include the introduction of public transport, including trams.
“We want to implement several attractions, making some of the projects architecturally interesting so that Ostrava can be proud of them for many years,” Schmidt said. According to him, the strong financial backing of ING Group and its own project that addresses the conceptual development of the entire area give them an advantage over the competition.
Elena Mazurová