The permitting process has started for the first urban rental housing projects that PDS (Prague Development Company) is preparing for the capital city. Before the end of June 2024, PDS has submitted complete documentation and applications for building permits or zoning decisions for approximately 450 housing units.
The largest project from this package is an urban district in the style of a garden city, which PDS is preparing in Prague - Dolní Počernice. Development is divided into several phases, the first of which includes the construction of 270 rental apartments. The houses are designed in a passive standard with exterior passive shielding. The new district also includes the second phase of 550 apartments, the construction of a complete infrastructure and a primary school. It will have a multi-source energy centre with the use of geothermal and solar energy and a local distribution system.
A category of medium-sized projects includes Jalový Dvůr in Prague 4. It offers 45 units of rental housing, which will be constructed from CLT panels. If the implementation starts in 2025, a realistic completion can be expected as early as 2026. The V Botanice apartment building with 53 rental apartments and retail space on the ground floor will be built in Smíchov next to the Baroque Villa Portheimka. The Peroutkova apartment building in Prague 5 will offer 50 apartment units.
"We are not selling city apartments, but expanding their number. In addition to repairing existing apartments, we also build new ones. They will serve as affordable rental housing intended especially for supported professions that Prague needs for its operation, such as health workers and teachers, and for vulnerable groups of the population, which include seniors or single people in housing need," explained Petr Hlaváček, Deputy Mayor of Prague for the area of territorial and strategic development.
PDS expects building permits will be issued within 9 months, i.e. in the spring of 2025. The construction itself will take about 1.5-2 years. The PDS estimates the total cost of implementing these housing units at CZK 2 billion (€79 million).
The Prague Development Company was founded on the initiative of Petr Hlaváček on June 1, 2020, as a contributory organisation of the capital city of Prague. Its goal is the evaluation of the real estate assets of the capital and the preparation of projects primarily for municipal rental housing. According to the Capital Representative Office decision, PDS has been handed over to manage approximately 800,000 sqm of land owned by the city, on which 6,000 – 8,000 apartments are expected to be built for up to 10 years.
