Developer defends demolition

A controversial demolition planned for a building dating to the 1880s on Prague's Wenceslas Square has prompted condemnation from high places, including from the de facto international cultural ambassador of the country, former President Václav Havel. Representatives of Flow East, the developer of the new building, say the architectural value of the structure now standing is debatable and that their project would attract businesses to the center of town while pushing out the pimps and drug dealers the boulevard is infamous for. The Prague Post sat down with Flow East CEO James Woolf to discuss the contentious heritage issues surrounding his project, as well as what he predicts for the future of the square and the Prague real estate market in general.  

The Prague Post: You've taken some harsh criticism for your plans to demolish the building at No. 47, especially from preservationist organizations like the Club for Old Prague (KSP). Isn't some of it justified?

James Woolf: For anyone to suggest we don't care about heritage is just madness. When we look at a building and what we want to do with it, there's a lot of thought that goes into that. There's a lot of focus on the important corners of Wenceslas Square. The funny thing about No. 47 is that in 1920 they ripped the facade and corner crown off, so the building lost all of its architectural merit in 1920. Anybody who looks at the building can see that it's not an architecturally important building. They say it's of sound construction, but there are cracks on it that we cannot solve. We want the building to look good and the square to look good. We want the square to be the Champs Elysées of Prague.

TPP: How do you do that?

JW: If you think about architecture in Prague, it goes all the way from medieval buildings to buildings from the '40s and '50s, and then very few buildings since then. And in 200 years' time, people will look around and say, "What happened to the 21st century? Where's the representation from that time?" We want to try to give some amazing representation that works with Prague. Our design incorporates the lines of St. Vitus Cathedral, and there was a lot of thought that went in to it. Obviously, people can have their different opinions, but these things stand the test of time. Before, there were a lot of people opposing the Dancing House. You can't stop the world because KSP wants to turn Prague into a museum. If they succeed, then you get plots of land that haven't been used in 30 years and become derelict, and you get the drug users, and people who want to have offices or retail move out of town. You lose the centralized aspect of town.

TPP: How are employers and retailers shaping development on the square?

JW: The professional firms want open-floor plans, not pokey little offices. I'm really passionate that this is the right thing for the building. At first, I wanted to put a hotel here, but then I was driving home one night and thought to myself, "You idiot, that's not what makes sense for the property," and what actually makes sense is to make a landmark on this important street that isn't really being used as an important street.

TPP: Is this the toughest opposition you've come up against with a project?

JW: It's the same. It's a complicated process. You're in a very historic town, and you need to respect the process. This is an unremarkable building, and we want to make something remarkable that will bring people back to the center. I can't bear these pimps on the street. The more retail and the more users we have down here, the more they'll be squeezed out of town.

TPP: What are some of the most significant changes you've seen on the Czech real estate market over the past 20 years that you've been active here?

JW: The demands of quality from tenants have dramatically increased over the years, but the price paid has not moved in 20 years. So I expect over the next five years to see some increase in the rental levels, perhaps even significant increases.

TPP: Looking forward, which are the real estate segments to watch closely?

JW: The downtown office market is going to be the most interesting because there isn't that much going up. Hopefully, there should be more demand for good properties. The big thing that's going to happen next year is that if they put the VAT on residential new-builds, something I think is a classic mistake, the government will basically force the stop of new-builds of residential property.

Emily Thompson can be reached at
ethompson@praguepost.com