TheWrap: A New Beginning?

Supply chain specialist HAVI snapped up 10,000 sqm in Hall B at Panattoni Business Park Kladno, making them the first tenant to move into the former Poldi steelworks. HAVI will run a cold-chain logistics hub for frozen and chilled distribution from the site, which sits between the D6 and D7 motorways. The 32,900 sqm Hall B is now complete, while its larger brother Hall A (55,600 sqm) is still under construction. RSJ Investments backs the development through RSJ Logistics Development III fund.

ARETE Industrial SICAV has sold ARETE Park Trenčin to Erste Asset Management's ERSTE Realitna Renta open-end fund. Price undisclosed. The 5,600 sqm single-tenant industrial asset is fully-let to Linde Material Handling on a long-term triple-net lease. For ARETE, the park's smaller scale made it a natural candidate for capital recycling into higher-growth targets. CIO Miroslav Barnas framed it as "disciplined capital allocation." He claims the deal underscores continued institutional appetite for stabilized, fully-let industrial product in CEE — even sub-scale assets attract open-end fund capital when income visibility is strong.

Metrostav Development has unveiled Bakers Court, its largest residential project to date. It encompasses 246 units across four architecturally distinct buildings on the former Odkolek bakery site in Prague 9-Vysocany. Construction starts this year, with completion due in 2029. Bogle Architects has designed the project’s flagship building. Called ‘The Baker’, it incorporates a clock tower, meant to reference the original Hubert Gessner industrial architecture. Baker Garden (88 units, City Work Architects) flanks the green courtyard; Baker Row adds 42 units in three villa-scale buildings. A final building -- Baker Pavilion -- offers 18 micro-apartments. Basically, a bit of everything. The coolest of which is a 12-piece public art collection ("Odkolekce"), with  works by Stanislav Kolibal and Michal Skapa. Some have been crafted from salvaged bakery materials. Prague 9 is where it’s at these days.

CTP has become the anchor investor in JIC Ventures, a CZK 400m venture capital fund targeting pre-seed and seed-stage tech startups in Czechia and CEE. The Brno-based fund was launched by the South Moravian Innovation Centre (JIC), in the presence of President Petr Pavel. Other investors include Ceska sporitelna and Jan Barta. JIC-supported companies have generated CZK 16bn in exits over the past five years. For CTP, the play is ecosystem-building. Czech CEO Jakub Kodr says the company wants to be "a partner from the start", offering scalable physical infrastructure alongside capital. The fund is modelled on Eindhoven's High Tech Campus.

YIT has renamed its Czech subsidiary from YIT Stavo to YIT Czechia. Why now? The Finnish mother company bought Euro Stavokonsult way back in 2008 and completed 38 residential projects since then. The move took effect April 1, bringing the company into alignment with the group's country-name conventions across seven European markets. YIT Czechia has numerous projects underway, including Ranta Barrandov, Toivo Roztyly, Kattila Kamyk, Portti Kladno, and the first phase of Kalevala in Brno.

Penta Real Estate's Southbank — a 210,000 sqm mixed-use quarter on the right bank of the Danube in Bratislava — has received its final EIA ruling from Slovakia's environment ministry, clearing the way for permitting. Construction of the first phase is targeted for late 2026. In a rare bout of public cooperation, the company is working with the City of Bratislava and JTRE to revitalize a riverfront park before summer kicks in. The first activation season drew 11,700+ visitors.

In Prague, Penta Real Estate and PSN have secured the building permit for Vinohradska 8, their CZK 3.5bn mixed-use project on the former Transgas site at the gateway to Prague's Vinohrady district. Demolition is complete. This was complex from a technical standpoint due to adjacent rail tunnels and the neighboring Czech Radio building. It was also a tricky public relations exercise, since the new project replaces a brutalist structure with a vocally active, but ultimately niche fan base. Completion is planned for Q3 2028, roughly a year after the new Wenceslas Square–Vinohrady tram line is expected to open. The scheme by Jakub Cigler Architekti delivers around 200 apartments in the inner courtyard block, along with 7,500 sqm of office space facing Vinohradska street. 1,400 sqm of retail and a rooftop terrace over Wenceslas Square will also be on offer.

Here’s another storm raging in a teacup of nostalgia: the Czech chamber of authorized engineers (CKAIT) has come out strongly in favor of the dismantling of the railway bridge at Vyton. There’s been a big stink over the results of an international architectural competition which would include tearing down the existing bridge. The reason for tearing it down seems pretty logical: it’s too old. By too old, I mean its structural integrity can’t be guaranteed past 2030. "A new bridge can be built very quickly and at significantly lower cost than uncertain attempts to restore something that cannot be restored. The winning design, selected through a transparent process, meets all requirements for modernity, aesthetic value, reliability, safety and a service life of at least another 100 years," writes Ing. Robert Špalek, chairman of ČKAIT. The chamber suggests the structure be moved a few kilometers upstream to serve bikes and pedestrians. “In this case, reason should take precedence over emotions,” he says.

Direct Group’s CEO Pavel Řehák says the company is poised to fire 30% of its 1,200 staff by the end of the year. That’s in order to shift to an “AI first” business model. The company’s revenues were CZK 11.3 billion in 2024; Řehák is targeting CZK 50 billion by 2030. As a result, Řehák warns the company will need more space soon. I’m not sure what to make of that. Except the obvious observation that the old ratios of people to revenues to GLA are breaking down.