In Za Papírnou Street in Prague-Holešovice, the city hall will build a municipal residential building

Prague - A municipal apartment building will be built on Za Papírnou street in Prague's Holešovice, constructed by the local council. It will primarily consist of smaller apartments intended for service purposes, the disabled, or people from socially vulnerable groups. The estimated costs are 125 million CZK. The design of the building will be determined through an international architectural competition. This is stated in a document approved by the councilors of Prague 7.

When exactly the building will be constructed is not yet clear. Due to a shortage of apartments, the council decided to buy a one-third share of an apartment building on Jana Zajíce street from a private owner this June, of which the remaining part is already owned by them. Currently, Prague 7 manages 653 municipal apartments.

The new municipal building will rise on a plot with a total area of 783 square meters, specifically at the corner of Železničářů and Za Papírnou streets, near the C subway station Nádraží Holešovice and the train stop Prague-Holešovice. The parcel is located in the area of the so-called large development zone Bubny-Zátory.

"The goal of the city district is to build an economically and environmentally friendly building that will be one of the first building blocks of the newly planned district," the document states.

The building is intended to provide municipal housing for various groups of residents and will include the aforementioned service apartments, housing for people with disabilities, or those from socially at-risk groups. Smaller apartments will prevail, ideally in a modular design. Community facilities are also planned, including space for a children's group with a minimum of 21 children.

The entire capital has long struggled with a shortage of apartments and their high prices. One solution advocated by the current city administration is cooperative housing. Prague councilors approved the first such project in June, where two blocks of buildings with up to 266 apartments will be created near Radlická street in Prague 5. The city still needs to find a partner to establish a housing cooperative and build the building. The city council will also commission a study on possible apartment construction on the southern edge of the Černý Most housing estate at the border between Prague 14 and Dolní Počernice.

A June study by the Swiss company PriceHubble indicated that the most expensive apartments in Prague are in Josefov and the cheapest in Satalice, but even there, the price for a 2+kk apartment of 64 square meters does not fall below 100,000 CZK per square meter. The average price per square meter of residential property in Prague is 120,645 CZK, the data showed.