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May 17th, 2008
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DavCor hits Prague real estate market

New development firm ropes in hot properties

April 16th, 2008 issue

By Kira Rose

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
David Werry opened DavCor's Prague offices in December.
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FOR THE POST
In his youth, David Werry dreamed of becoming a cowboy. As he shyly poses for a recent photo in business casual, it’s clear Werry’s life took quite an unexpected turn from his childhood aspiration.
After more than 30 years in the real estate business, which has stretched from one end of Europe to the other, Werry grew tired of working for others and decided to open his own company. It didn’t take him long to find an ideal location: DavCor officially landed on the Prague development market last December, and, by all indications, it looks like it’s off to a strong start.
“Prague is a very open place to do business,” Werry says. “There is a real sense of community.”     
It’s that sense of community that Werry hopes to cultivate here.
“Systematic development,” he notes, “entails involving one’s neighbors so that they are aware of our plans in advance.”
Werry is wasting no time there. His company is currently working on two large-scale projects. Rezidence Jubileum in Holešovice comprises 105 apartments with some retail and office space and is scheduled to finish by the end of 2009, Werry says. The other DavCor housing project is located in Prague 5. The 18,000-square-meter (194,000-square-foot) site will consist of 170 apartments. Construction is set to begin next year and should be completed by 2011.
While DavCor has a number of other projects in the works, Werry prefers to keep his plans under wraps — at least for now. And as for talk of expanding his business beyond the Czech border, Werry says it’s too soon to tell what the future may hold.  
“Prague is a big enough market for me,” he says. “If the company grows substantially in the long term, maybe I’ll consider expansion.”
For now, Werry’s primary goal is to market his services locally and see where that takes him.
“David’s vast experience in development, his attention to detail and his methodical and pragmatic approach” are among reasons why Philip Grant, one of DavCor’s investors, chose to work with Werry on several different projects around the city.
Werry says his career choice was more accidental than a premeditated path. He has been a player on the Central and East European real estate market for 15 years, which helped pave the way to where he is now.   
As operation and commercial director for Bovis Lend Lease, Werry oversaw the company’s business development activities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. And between 2003 and 2005, Werry was the design and construction director for CPP Development’s highly anticipated Central Park Praha project in the city’s up-and-coming Žižkov neighborhood.
Now his own boss, Werry is embracing the role.   
“It’s good to have 100 percent decision-making power,” he says, sitting in his office in Old Town.
Unlike other developers, DavCor concentrates on “brownfield sites.” According to Werry, Prague is full of these inefficient sites near the center that were built over the last 50 years. “While it is cheaper to construct on green sites, it is a shame to build on meadows on the outskirts when sites in the middle are underutilized,” he says.
Compared to Western Europe, Prague’s property value remains incredibly low, however, Werry believes that the possibilities for mortgage growth are enormous and hopes to capitalize on this. Right now, about 30 percent of DavCor developments are bought by foreign buyers, mostly from the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“Over the past 15 years, we’ve seen waves of development during which certain markets were specifically strong,” Werry says. “The residential development wave will be the longest.”
Werry has come a long way since his childhood dreams of rodeos in England’s Midlands.
“I still remember the photograph of me dressed like a cowboy,” Werry says with a trace of nostalgia.
One never knows what the future will bring. DavCor’s cowboy may yet ride into the sun.
Kira Rose can be reached at realestate@praguepost.com


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