Upcoming elections have spurred Prague urban planners into high gear, as they try to squeeze major changes to the city’s master plan through the city assembly before the balance of power shifts. Three railway station projects, two of which should be developed by Sekyra Group, are among the most prominent examples of schemes where years of laborious negotiations and compromises could prove to have been wasted. The company will have to hope the changes can be passed before the current political constellation is broken up by local elections. 

In June, Prague administrators began the process of changing the master plans for the Smíchov, Žižkov and Masarykovo stations, submitted by each district’s local authorities. The changes will be considered under an accelerated process used for large brownfield schemes the city considers to be strategic.  The acceleration lies in the fact that the projects avoid the concept stage of planning, where the local municipalities submit plans to the Urban Development Institute (URM), and the public gets a chance to raise objections. It’s this point that critics have pounced on, charging that it allows the city assembly to change master plans that have never been subjected to formal public debate.

The Žižkov station redevelopment is likely to be seen as the most controversial, as it would involve the most substantial adjustments to the current master plan. One of the owners of land at the station, Discovery Group, has already received the changes it needed for its plot. Under normal circumstances, Sekyra Group would have no chance of making the changes it needs before the elections this fall. However, the city has decided it wants to move the location of the future D-line metro station. Since this directly impacts Sekryra Group’s project, the planning requirements for both are being fast-tracked. 

This decision, however, has been attacked by the city assembly deputy for the Green Party, Zuzana Drhová, as being too vague and riddled with crucial ambiguities. “It’s not yet clear if there will be a park or a boulevard in the middle, or if there will be public transport introduced into the area,” she says. 

In fact, Prague’s planning regime is so untransparent, she’s probably right. Prague 3’s proposed change, for example, states explicitly that a radial road would extend on from Olšanská street, where it intersects with Želivského, out to the Prague ring road. 

However, local administration sources warn that not only does its proposal depend upon a single, unpredictable, signature, the road could end up being blocked on conservation grounds by the presence of one of stations original buildings. 

“The proceedings to proclaim the building as a historical monument have been already started, and this would change the situation completely. As a historical monument, it cannot be torn down,” says Drhová. 

Sekyra’s plan calls for up to four high-rises, a central square, a park and a boulevard running crosswise through the zone. Leoš Anderle, Sekyra Group’s development director, says 85 percent of the 300,000 sqm of planned new real estate would be residential. “We will typically work in phases to offer 150 to 200 flats at a time, but those can be further cut to comply with the demand,” explains Anderle. 

A single office building along Želivského street would be built, offering up to 40,000 sqm of office space, and divided into phases. The developer hopes to start construction ideally by 2012, but this will come down to how much “acceleration” planning officials are able to achieve.