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Quinlan Private eye on Prague 13

Real estate and investment company starts work on latest office park development

By Brooke Edge
For The Prague Post
August 15th, 2007 issue

Jan Přerovský/THE PRAGUE POST
Quinlan Private Golub's Stephen Haigh says the biggest selling point for the Explora office park development is the building's foot-plate.
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COURTESY PHOTO
The first phase of the Explora office park will be done next year.
Quinlan Private Golub

Charles Square Centre
Karlovo nám. 10
Prague 2
Tel.: 225 952 510
Web: www.qpgolub.com

On the border of an expansive plot of land just above the Nové Butovice metro station lies the rim of a cavernous pit dug deep into the ground. This spot is the site of Quinlan Private Golub’s latest multimillion-euro office park project.
The entire Explora development will sit on a 2.5-hectare (6.2-acre) site and include three buildings. Phase one of the project, scheduled for completion next year, will boast 21,100 square meters (227,199 square feet) of leaseable space, 1,967 of which will be retail.
“I think the biggest selling feature of Explora is the actual foot-plate of the building,” says Stephen Haigh, the real estate and investment group’s managing director for the Czech Republic. “People want openness in their offices.”
Guy Speir, the company’s leasing and marketing director, agrees.
“For larger, international companies, this could be a unique solution on the Prague market,” he explains. “Instead of splitting up over two or three floors, as would be necessitated by smaller floor plates in the center of Prague, tenants in Explora can experiment with greater area to find the most suitable space solution.”
The new business center in Prague 13 is a typical example of the type of work of Quinlan Private Golub (QPG) has become known for on the Central and East European real estate market.
The company has a great deal of experience working with international businesses both within the country and abroad. The product of a merger, Golub, in some form or another, has been building and operating not just office space but also retail, residential and mixed-use properties throughout Central and Eastern Europe for the past two decades. Its 20-plus projects can be found in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. In Prague alone, QPG boasts four developments — the Charles Square Center, BB Centrum, Sunny Hill residences, which it co-developed with Orco Property Group and, of course, Explora.
QPG follows a full-service model, executives say, noting the company will see a real estate project through from inception to move-in day and beyond. Its core business services are real estate development, asset management, investment advisory, property management, project management and marketing and leasing. In all, QPG’s business assets add up to approximately 7 billion euros ($9.7 billion/197.2 trillion Kč), company records show.
Haigh joined QPG’s Prague office in January. “I was brought on in the Czech Republic to expand the operations here,” he explains. With a background in residential development, Haigh says his aim is to make QPG a local presence in more than just office real estate.
“The main reason I came here was because I felt there was such a niche” to be served, he says. QPG has recently been conducting field research and “mystery shopping” — covert competition research — in the Prague residential real estate market, and Haigh says he was “not inspired” with the results. He says he hopes QPG will make its mark domestically, not only with its design and construction work, but also through its customer service.
QPG has some “very exciting” new deals in the works, Haigh says, remaining mum on the details. He did note, however, that the upcoming projects are “predominantly residential, with a small amount of mixed use.”
Haigh also emphasizes that “the projects we design, we design them to suit the area,” which is why the company anticipates the Explora center will be a huge success.
The Prague 13 site was actually earmarked for development years ago by a former incarnation of the QPG company: GE Capital Golub. Quinlan Private Golub was the product of a 2006 merger between Quinlan Private, a private client advisory group, and Golub & Co., an international real estate developer and investment company based in Chicago.
The Prague 13 office park project was eventually retained by QPG, but its name was changed from Westgate to Explora.
Just above the metro and close to the future Prague Ring Road and the D5 highway, Explora’s location “opens up the whole of Prague” and connects the office park with Europe’s bustling international business scene, Haigh stresses.
“We undertook detailed area studies before committing to an office development in this area,” Speir adds. “As with any office development, it is vital to be able to offer potential tenants as much of a lifestyle-work mix as possible. … From this point of view, location and area amenities were very important for us when developing the Explora concept.”
In addition, “there are a number of other important amenities and social services in the vicinity,” Speir says, including shopping malls, apartment buildings and schools, such as the German International School.
“Explora is also only in phase one of development,” Speir notes, “which means that future phases will increase the overall leaseable area significantly.”
This tremendous space opportunity and its attractiveness to international companies, he says, “will surely make Explora different enough to excel.”
Tewfik Sabongui, managing director at real estate leasing agency Jones Lang LaSalle, seconds this statement. Jones Lang LaSalle has worked with QPG for a number of years in Prague and the surrounding Central European region, beginning with the company’s role as leasing agent for Charles Square Center, which is where QPG has its Czech headquarters. Jones Lang LaSalle is also the leasing agent on Explora.
“This is one [job] we are very excited we have won,” Sabongui says, “and we strongly foresee this project becoming one of the most successful administration buildings in Prague.”
This may be true, but for now, QPG is keeping many of the project’s details quiet. Company representatives do note, however, that their research and planning appear to be paying off. Advanced leasing negotiations are currently in the works with three or four “major potential tenants,” QPG executives reveal.
“Suffice it to say,” Speir adds, “Explora has generated significant interest among potential tenants, and if anyone is interested in Prague 13 as a destination for their business, they should contact us soon.”
Brooke Edge can be reached at realestate@praguepost.com

Brooke Edge can be reached at specialsection@praguepost.com


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