The supervisory board of ČD postponed the meeting regarding the sale of land in the center of Prague

Prague - The Supervisory Board of Czech Railways today postponed the vote on the sale of land around Masaryk Station. ČTK was informed about this by Czech Railways spokesperson Radek Joklík. The developer company Penta is interested in the land around the station. They are offering over 400 million crowns for it.
    “This is a very complex issue. We need to familiarize ourselves with it properly, so we have decided to interrupt the discussions on this item and will return to it at the next meeting,” stated the chairman of the Supervisory Board Milan Feranec. If the board approves the sale, the plan must also be endorsed by the steering committee, which is an authority representing the state.
    Penta intends to purchase approximately 15,000 square meters of land from Czech Railways for about 400 million crowns, said the company's CEO Petr Palička. The price calculation is based on a contract from 2003, which established the price at 7,200 crowns per square meter for future office and commercial spaces. Thus, the price does not depend on the area of the land but on the floor area of the future office buildings, which the city hall will allow to be built on the land.
    When constructing a six-story building, the price comes to 32,400 crowns per square meter of land, which is the minimum price that Penta guarantees to the railways, Palička stated. With higher construction density, the price per acquired square meter will accordingly be higher.
    Construction is planned in three locations around the station. According to Penta's plans, the first block of buildings should be created on Na Florenci Street opposite the Florentinum shopping center, which the company built last year. The second block is planned to be built between the motorway and the bus station, and the third area is near Hybernská Street, part of which belongs to Czech Post.
    According to Palička, the payment date in the original contract was to be moved. Czech Railways should now receive the price after obtaining the building permit, rather than after the occupancy permit, as was stated in the original agreement.
    The contract also includes the division of repairs and rights to use the historic station building. It now has a repaired roof in the waiting hall. Penta is to renovate and subsequently use additional commercial spaces on the ground floor of the station, the platforms are to be transferred to the Railway Infrastructure Administration, and other spaces will fall under Czech Railways, according to Penta.
    Czech Railways owns most of the land at Masaryk Station. The renovation of the station is planned by the company Masaryk Station Development, in which the railways own about 34 percent and Penta holds the majority.
     Masaryk Station primarily serves suburban transport, with over 30,000 passengers passing through daily. The planned construction of office buildings is not intended to limit the operations of the station; the plan also includes a future extension of the station with two tracks for transport between the center of Prague and Václav Havel Airport.