Czech Post will sell its headquarters in the center of Prague and build a new headquarters in Vysočany

Prague – Czech Post wants to sell most of its headquarters in the center of Prague and build a new headquarters in Prague's Vysočany. Roman Knap, the general director of Czech Post, told the Seznam Zprávy server. From the current headquarters in Jindřišská Street in Prague 1, the post will retain the historic building with the processing hall. The specific layout of the parts intended for sale is still being prepared, and the study is expected to be finished by the end of the year, according to the server.

The reason for selling a larger part of the current headquarters is mainly savings, according to Knap. "It is a large and expensive building in the city center. With an immensely expensive plot and operation. Just maintaining the building costs 40 million crowns a year," he told the server.

The new post headquarters is to be established in Prague's Vysočany, where the post owns land near Poděbradská Street, according to the server. "The municipal district of Prague 9 is currently preparing a contractual relationship that would define the roles of Czech Post and Prague 9 in the given area, thus leading to a mutual synergy of projects," said Marie Kurková, the spokesperson for the Prague 9 municipal council, to the server. Besides the post, private developers are also preparing further projects along Poděbradská Street, according to the server.

Officials from the headquarters on Jindřišská Street and other post buildings would move to the Vysočany headquarters. Up to 2000 postal employees are expected to work in Vysočany. "By the end of the year, we should know how much it will cost," Knap added.

In 2019, the Prague city hall stated that it was negotiating with Czech Post about the possible purchase of its headquarters in Jindřišská Street. However, the post subsequently declared that the building is not for sale. Even then, Knap mentioned moving the post's administration to a single headquarters in another location. In 2019, Knap referred to Prague's Malešice as a location for the new headquarters.

According to Seznam Zpráv, Czech Post also plans to sell the building of the former customs post on Plzeňská Street in Prague and other buildings in other regions. Last year, it sold the site of the former St. Gabriel's monastery in Prague 5 for 353 million crowns. Czech Post aims to collect billions of crowns from the sale of non-essential assets, the server writes. Last year, Czech Post deepened its loss by one billion due to the coronavirus pandemic to 1.382 billion crowns. This year, the company aims to return to profit, said postal spokesman Matyáš Vitík to ČTK in April.