Outside the Pankrác metro station in Prague 4, dilapidated open-air markets made of flimsy wood and steel piping line the sidewalk. The shrubbery in the natural area is littered with plastic cups and cigarette butts, and the air is filled with the jarring sounds of traffic.

Only a few kilometers from the towering spires of Prague's center, the gray, industrial appearance of the Pankrác neighborhood makes it seem a million miles away. The area looks badly in need of urban regeneration.

For five years, the ECM Real Estate Development Group has been working on a project called City to do just that. But the company is locked in a battle with two local activist groups over how the area should be developed that has slowed the project and is costing ECM millions of crowns.

"It isn't possible to precisely calculate," says Tomáš Laštovka, director of the City project. The cost of the last several months of delays "could be in the tens of millions of crowns, which could have long ago been invested into a central park [or] the construction of dozens of playing fields in the vicinity."

ECM unveiled the master plan of the City project, designed by architect Richard Meier, in 2001. It has since undergone many modifications, mainly under pressure from activist groups.

Today, the project includes an office building, City Point, a multipurpose arena complex and a luxury apartment building, called City Epoque, which is designed in the shape of a V and is the tallest residential project in the Czech Republic.

ECM also bought two already-existing high-rises in Pankrác, City Tower and City Empiria, with hopes to renovate.

ECM has made progress. City Point is already built; City Empiria has been renovated, and City Tower should be finished by 2007.

The process has been considerably slowed, however, by the work of civic organization Občanská iniciativa Pankráce and nongovernmental agency Arnika. The groups have been able to delay the project's development for years by filing objections to building permits, among other things.

The groups have many concerns about the City project, but the Pankrác skyline is at the heart of the conflict.

"We are not against ECM,"

says Marie Janoušková, chairman of Občanská iniciativa Pankráce, which, according to ECM, asked the development group to include a public library in its project. "We are against the development of high buildings in the Pankrác area, no matter what kind of investment it is. The aim of our activity is not to show the success of stopping ECM projects, but the development of Pankrác with buildings that are useful for inhabitants and sensible in limiting the amount of pollution and noise."

Late in the day

ECM says the City project would revitalize a run-down area, and is quick to point out that none of the buildings it wants to build would be taller than the 104-meter (341-foot) City Empiria, which is already there.

This point isn't lost on Prague City Hall, which is in favor of the project. Jan Kněžínek, head of City Hall's historic preservation section, says it's strange for Arnika and Občanská iniciativa Pankráce to make a fuss about skyscrapers when City Tower and City Empiria are already there.

He says the area needs a facelift.

"As I see it, I think we have three options for the Pankrác area as it stands: We do nothing, we allow some building, or we send in the B52s," Kněžínek says with a wry smile.

Arnika and Občanská iniciativa Pankráce are sticking to their position. Arnika has even appealed to UNESCO, which has placed Prague on its list of World Heritage sites.

"We have sent a letter to UNESCO urging intervention," says Martin Skalský, chairman of Arnika's Center for Citizen Support. "Prague is a city of towers and should not be a city of skyscrapers."

UNESCO did not say whether it would get involved in the dispute, but ECM is confident it won't.

This isn't the first time conflict has arisen over the development of Pankrác. People have debated the construction of high-rises there since the 1930s. Indeed, two of the buildings included in Meier's original master plan had to be abandoned because they were taller than City Empiria.

For its part, Arnika is still hoping UNESCO will step in, but Skalský seems resigned to the fact that the City project will eventually materialize.