print ]Cimex Is Going to Invest Five Billion Czech Crowns
„We are willing to pay a lot of money for well-designed projects. Just now we are finishing the transformation of a few beautiful houses in Mariánské Lázně to apartment and office buildings. Another project, a reconstruction of three buildings in the very center of the spa resort of Mariánské Lázně, is currently in preparation,“ said Miroslav Příkop, director general of the Cimex Invest company.
However, Příkop says that the development of the company is getting complicated because of the lack of suitable projects, as well as administrative difficulties, such as restitution. „The authorities stall our projects which are already under way and which have cost us more than half a billion crowns,“ said Příkop.
This is particularly the case of the Hrubá Skála Castle hotel in East Bohemia. The company had projected the largest reconstruction in the history of the castle, costing half a billion crowns, obtained the building permission, but then had to stop the project because a new restitution claim was made. Similarly, Cimex Invest had to cancel the planned construction of two thousand apartments in the suburbs of Prague.
„We are not against restitution, but no company can work unless they are certain that they actually own the property,“ stated the director of Cimex Invest.
Besides hotels and construction of new buildings, Cimex has lately focused on creating a portfolio of so-called „B-category“ real estate. That means above all offices in old, newly reconstructed buildings in city centers. Today Cimex owns 40,000 square meters of such real estate and it plans to double the number in the next two years.
These offices are in demand among smaller companies that do not need thousands of square meters in newly built houses, which belong to the A-category. The „B-real estate“ receives more and more attention and it has even become more profitable than the „A-real estate“. „The funds invested in this kind of real estate pay off by 8 or 9 percent, whereas in the A-category it is only 6 percent. And taking the tenant’s point of view, the total costs, that is rent plus services, is almost 30 percent lower in the B-category than in new centers,“ explains Příkop.
New office buildings are not a competition to the „B-real estate“. On the contrary, both types of offices in the same area complement each other. Prague 4, where BB Centrum has been built, is a good example. „Our property in the vicinity does not offer the same luxury, but it allows our clients to have offices nearby, for a reasonable price,“ added Příkop.
Source: Hospodářské noviny
By Vladimír Kaláb
