The seven-storey building on the corner of Nádražní and U Železničního mostu streets will offer almost 6,500 square meters of leasable space, of which 5,700 will be offices and the rest shops or services. The design was created by the Podlipný Sladký architekti studio, which is the court studio of the JRD, from which most of its residential projects come.

"Thanks to the agreement with the investor Property N74, the new project will be based on the same principles of energy efficiency and a healthy indoor environment that we have applied so far in residential construction," said JRD owner Jan Řežáb. Property N74 is backed by Czech investors, with whom the developer has been cooperating for a long time.

The Anděl Viaduct has a final zoning decision. JRD plans to begin construction this fall. However, given the current market situation, it will not build speculatively. "We have negotiated the first tenants. I believe that the project will hold on to the market due to its qualities. In addition, activity in office development by a number of developers is now subdued, ”added Řežáb.

Pipeline mail communication

The project seeks to obtain the international "green" LEED Gold certificate. "Modern technologies will be installed here, including a heat pump with geothermal wells, a photovoltaic system, an automatic controlled ventilation system with recuperation with completely separate air supply and exhaust circuits, radiant cooling from ceilings, outdoor shading, full-spectrum lighting and intelligent building control system," described Řežáb .

The developer will mainly provide project management of the construction and management of fit-outs, he has invited the consulting company JLL to negotiate leases of commercial premises. It will also offer the possibility of coworking in a shared meeting room for 40 people. A rest zone will be created in the atrium of the building, which will be made special by the functional design of the pipeline mail system.

JRD has been operating in the residential market since 2003, when it started building chamber housing projects in a low-energy standard. Over time, it has also moved to energy-passive complexes with hundreds of flats and acquisitions of larger territorial units. "In addition to residential construction, our JRD Group also deals with land development, investments and energy from renewable sources, such as photovoltaic and wind power plants or plasma waste gasification technologies," added Řežáb.

Pressure on rent discounts

JRD enters the office market in uncertain times. The pandemic, together with the hotel and retail sector, hit him the hardest of all the real estate sectors. The volume of concluded lease agreements in administrative buildings fell by almost a quarter year-on-year, when 333 thousand square meters were leased in Prague last year.

"Even more noticeable is the decline when looking at the net volume of leases, ie adjusted for renewed contracts and subleases. With a volume of approximately 167 thousand square meters, this is a year-on-year decrease of 38 percent, "says a recent analysis of Trend Report 2021, published by the Association for the Development of the Real Estate Market.

So far, although nominal rents have remained at the same level as last year, the pressure to reduce them is reflected in the demands of companies for higher incentives, such as so-called rental holidays or contributions to the equipment of premises. The historically highest level of incentives was in 2015, when it reached up to 34 percent of the total rent, which corresponded to a large amount of vacant space. It was up to 25 percent last year.

"Vacancy reached seven percent at the turn of the year, an increase of 1.5 percent year on year. Including the space offered for sublease, which represents the so-called gray vacancy, the total vacancy on the market increased by two percentage points, ie to the level of nine percent, "says Trend Report.

Source: // E15