ČD will sell part of Masaryk Station, and will use the proceeds to repair it

Prague - According to today's Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD), Czech Railways (ČD) will sell part of Prague's Masaryk Station and use the proceeds to repair its historic and state-protected passenger terminal. The newspaper writes that ČD will sell part of the land covering 1.5 hectares to Masaryk Station Development (MSD) for an estimated price set by the court at approximately half a billion crowns. "We are on the verge of signing, it still needs to be approved by the supervisory board," said Milan Matzenauer, Deputy General Director of ČD for property management.
    According to him, the price for the land will be around 30,000 crowns per square meter. "There will be two expert opinions from us and from the buyers, the third will be from a court expert," he added, noting that repairs should begin later this year. The railways will repair the station, from which mainly regional trains operate, during regular operations.
    MfD points out that discussions about the renovation and transformation of the entire station have been ongoing since 1998 when the railways selected MSD as the investor in a tender, in which they themselves hold a stake. In addition to the railways, the project also involves ING, Sudop, and Morávka centrum. "It is an opportunity for us to advance in the project more quickly," said MSD head Tomáš Kadeřábek regarding the agreement. MfD writes that the company does not yet know what exactly will be built on the land - this will be revealed only by the architectural study. "It will most likely be a combination of shops, offices, and apartments," Kadeřábek stated.
    MfD also writes that ČD had high hopes for the project "Living Stations," where they rented buildings to developers who were supposed to renovate them and attract retailers, but the plans to revive the shabby buildings have not worked out well: out of 19 contracts, eight are in negotiations for termination, and others are being remodeled by the railways. "Developers have significantly overestimated themselves, the return on projects is over twenty years," Matzenauer said.
    MfD reports that the railways, for instance, terminated contracts with AŽD for the station in Kolín, with Viamont for Ústí nad Labem, or with MCM-Immo in Teplice, Most, and Chomutov. Contracts for revitalizing the stations in Prague-Horní Počernice, Krč, and Braník are also likely to be terminated. The railways will most likely repair them from their own resources, primarily relying on the sale of unnecessary properties. This year, they aim to generate around half a billion crowns from their properties, except for Masaryk Station. The revenue will go towards repairs and covering the approximately 300 million annual loss from their operations.
    MfD reminds that ČD has property assets worth approximately twenty billion crowns.