My favorite unintended consequence of auctioning off paintings each year at ThePrime Gala has been getting to know fascinating artists and curators on the contemporary Czech art scene. It's also made me far more aware of the growing tendency for developers and building owners to incorporate art into their projects. It’s exciting to witness how the maturity and sophistication of the local property sector have deepened.
The experience has also pushed me to raise my game journalistically. Which is why I put together a roundtable this week that included two artists (Jiří Černický & Jan Kaláb), two developers (Marián Hlavačka - Corwin & Ondřej Buršik - Metrostav Development) and the Mayor of Prague 9 (Tomáš Portlík).
For two hours, we talked about how art and artists can breathe life into a location. About why no matter how good the architecture, it's sometimes these 'extra bits' of creativity around a building that tip it over into iconic status.
What came up over and over was how to choose the right artist. Or the right work of art from the right artist. As it happens, picking the “right” painting is a painstaking process for us each year at the Gala. It turns out, it's no easier for developers, who also want desperately to get it right.
"We decided to do it professionally and work with a curator," said Ondřej Buršík. He's the director of Metrostav Development, whose project Bakers Court in Vysočany - Prague 9 will feature a collection of 12 original works of art. The choices have been made through what Buršík describes as a deep, extended dialogue.
"We said they should be works based in some way on the original buildings and their materials, that the art would in some way reflect the location’s history and give it some new type of authenticity."
It's a pretty tall order, and Buršík admits they're only part way there, even though work on the idea began seven years ago. But a lot of thought has gone into it. "For us as developers, architecture is itself just a part of art," he said. "The same way we shape the environment, the environment shapes us."
"Simply put, art somehow reflects our daily reality," says Marián Hlavačka, director of the developer Corwin. "For me, art is another dimension. We typically use three dimensions; for me personally, art adds a fourth." Hlavačka sees incorporating art into his projects as a natural extension of this philosophy. "It's important, because these buildings will outlive us by tens or hundreds of years. They'll remain as a sort of time capsule. So, it's important to give the artists the freedom to create."
On a more practical note, he says of all the different methods of choosing, the open-call competition makes the most sense. "No one has come up with a better way, how to do it transparently."
"I think it's good sometimes to put something provocative in public space," said Prague 9's mayor Tomáš Portlík. "Art should provoke a little. It's about creativity and courage — categories far too subjective to ever reach consensus on." But he admits getting it right is tricky. “You just have to give artists their freedom rather than tying them down. Just tell them roughly what you'd like."
You’d think this would be tough for developers, whose jobs demand them to be freakishly detail-oriented and highly controlling.
What did the artists have to say for themselves? I’m already out of space here, so I’ll write in greater depth about this on ThePrime, next week. Meanwhile, I’m already planning the next roundtable, with a different set of people. If you've got thoughts about the use of art in projects, or (hint, hint) if you’d be interested in helping me create a public event on the topic, please get in touch.
IBF BBQ
LAST CHANCE! Get your tickets now for the last networking event before summer. The always-excellent IBF Real Estate and Garden Party 2026 takes place on June 18 at Letenský zámeček Gardens. It’s a great send-off before the holidays offering excellent catering and high-quality networking. And this time, it’s even a chance to watch the Czechs play South Africa in the world cup! Personally, I’m pleased that the beneficiary of the charity tombola will be ThePrime Foster Fund, so I hope lots of you show up. For more information and registration details, visit the event web page.
RE News
CPI Property Group snapped up the Schönfeld & Co Nemovitosti fund from cash-strapped RSBC — its first disposal since reorganization. The CZK 1.6 billion vehicle rebrands immediately as Arentia SICAV; its portfolio runs to three commercial assets and a residential project, anchored by the Oáza Kladno mall, Brno's Platinium office and the REDA logistics park. CPI may be knee-deep in its own sell-off, but this deal was apparently too much to resist.
Arcona Capital has joined forces with Poland's REINO to build a pan-European investment platform, with its Prague operation as the Central European hub. Their first investments will play out across the German, Dutch and Polish logistics markets. Expanding via Arcona’s established Czech asset management infrastructure would be the next move. Arcona Capital manages more than €400 million across seven markets. REINO handles a €600 million Polish portfolio. The JV is designed to enable each to drive the markets they know best.
Czech property-tax receipts are set to climb roughly a billion crowns this year, to around 24 billion, the Financial Administration reckons. People may grumble every year as towns raise their property tax rates, but they shouldn’t. Czechs pay a pittance compared to the rest of Europe. The state raises just 0.5% of all tax revenues this way — a piddling portion.
The Czech National Bank has left mortgage limits largely untouched. The 80% LTV cap on own-residences stands, but investment buyers are being squeezed by a 70-percent LTV and a debt-to-income ceiling of seven since April. Fear of tighter restrictions helped drive faster-than-average Q1 lending.
Sekyra Group is breaking ground on the CZK 8 billion second phase of Rohan City in Prague's Karlín. This one comprises four residential blocks with 640 flats, and one rental building converted from a previously planned office. Of the 240 planned rental units, Kooperativa takes 127 and Mint's residential fund signed up for 113; nearly 400 more go to owner-occupiers. The 21-hectare district, begun in 2021, won't finish before 2035.
Czech household savings keep emigrating out of bank accounts into investment funds, where roughly 20 percent now sit. Total fund assets jumped 30.8 percent over the past year to CZK 2.1 trillion. The qualified-investor funds that dominate the real-estate end swelled 40 percent to CZK 860.5 billion. Fear of inflation appears to be the culprit, as cash-rich Czechs remember the chaos of 30% inflation between 2022 and 2024.
Five Guys is heading to Brno, the American burger chain's second Czech site after December's Prague debut in the Máj department store. This roll-out is a bit secretive though, as the actual location hasn’t been named. Brno's fast-food menu is already loaded: Popeyes, McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and Bageterie Boulevard all wait.
P3 is inserting a new tier of small, flexible business units into its Ostrava Central park. It’s betting that regional SMEs want prime warehouse-plus-showroom space, not just big sheds. These modular Small Business Units run 322 to 1,178 square meters, with 8-metre clear heights. The first units are due to land in the first half of 2027, permits allowing. They’re not the only big-box logistics developers to notice that local companies will pay attractive rents for smaller, high quality units. P3 already runs 95 Czech sites across 15 parks.
Prague's prime office market is freezing, writes Savills. Across 2024 and 2025, just three of the city's twenty largest office deals were genuine relocations; the rest were renewals, because nothing better exists. New completions hit a record-low 26,600 sqm in 2025, against 150,000 to 200,000 in boom years, and prime vacancy has slipped below 5 percent. Of the 312,900 sqm under construction, 54 percent is owner-occupied HQs for ČEZ, Erste and Creditas; most leasable space won't land before 2028. Prime rents are punching past €33.
ThePrime Reader
-Martin Baláž (Prologis): We can develop 180,000 sqm around Prague
-New podcast episode! With Demaco’s new CFO Zdeněk Raus
-Prague new-flat prices climb 2.1% as supply slides toward exhaustion
-Penta moves BASE flex offices to Chalupkova, hands Tepláreň coworking to Alto
-iO Partners wins Twin City Tower mandate
-CPI profits fall 5.9% in Q1
-ThePrime Pod: Pavel Novak (Savills) on the worsening office squeeze
-Bubble Tea’s spectacular bankruptcy
-Five fund targeting Czech senior care real estate’s critical lack of supply
-Charnwood’s Malešice Business Park targets July opening
-Penta launches new office project on Hybernska
-Petr Koljadenko joins Goldbeck
-What does America’s office crisis mean for CEE?
-Filip Slabotinský (DMC Design & Engineering): We take a systematic approach to design
-Savills Acquires Eastdil Secured for $1.1 bn
-Four residential permits in one week: Horizon Holding, CPI, Geosan, Central Group
-Babiš blames LPP for arson attack at its Pardubice factory
-Stats office says 2025 economic growth stronger than expected
-ZDR Investments: From Zero to CZK 20 Billion in Eight Years — And Still Shopping Conservatively