The following is a translated mock-up of a web page on Forbes Czech website Forbes.cz to allow the article to be read by an English audience. The copyright of Forbes is acknowledged.
BILLIONAIRES
HOW TO BE BETTER
ESPRESSO
LIFE
SPECIALS
BRANDVOICE
CZECH BUSINESS
The £170 million hotel in Letná gets the green light.
Construction will begin in October.
Author
Visuals
In the 15 years that Daniel Křetínský has owned Sparta (Prague), he has poured hundreds of millions of crowns into football but has not figured out how to earn them back on the pitch. That will probably change now – but the Sparta footballers will have nothing to do with it. The pitch on which the money will be made is the training pitch, not the stadium.
It is on the grass next to the Sparta stadium in the Prague district of Letna where Sparta originally trained that, in October, excavators will roll in and embark on preparations for the construction of a luxury hotel, which will be built here over the next three years.
The long-delayed project worth CZK 5 billion (£177m) has been granted its final permit, and so has received the green light from the building authority.
“We have obtained a building permit. It is freshly issued and now we are waiting for it to come into force, which may be soon. So far, everything is going well, ”confirmed Michal Viktorin, who is in charge of the real estate development division, EP Real Estate, within Křetínský Energetický.
Křetínský was left with a training field that had lost its meaning when one of the busy exits from the Blanka tunnel was constructed next to it. As well as being an interesting business opportunity, it is important to him because the unused land is overlooked by his home.
Originally a shopping centre was to be built on the site, but it eventually changed into a hotel due to objections from local residents. Its appearance is the work of architect Petr Pelčák, the interiors were designed by English studio, Fuse.
It will have 523 rooms, a swimming pool on the seventh floor with views of Prague Castle, a convention centre and will be operated by an American hotel chain, whose name Viktorin wants to announce only after obtaining a valid building permit. So far, it is only known that it will be a hotel chain that does not yet operate in the Czech market.
If everything goes according to plan, the first excavation will commence in two months at the training ground and at the same time, the junction that will separate the hotel from the stadium will be constructed. The hotel is due to be opened in 2022 and along with it Křetínský would like to approve another building.
This will be an office building to be built next to the hotel over the southern stand of the Sparta Stadium. So far, only a zoning permit has been issued, but the construction should be quicker than the hotel, so both buildings are expected to be completed at the same time.