Following many years of speculation and debate, construction of a 5-star Ritz Carlton luxury hotel in the center of Prague is due to begin in January 2018, reports Hospodářské noviny.
The reconstruction, which will include the renovation of eight existing buildings, has received the green light. The first guests should be able to check into the Ritz-Carlton at the end of 2020.
Investors say that they will link historical buildings on Celetná, Železná, and Kamzíkova streets in the Old Town into one functional hotel complex.
Construction of the complex has been debated since the 1990s; objections by conservationists were uncompromising and the project was shelved for over a decade.
Ogi Jaksic, director of project investor Akroterion told HN, “We have signed a general contractor, construction company VCES […] and renewed the building permit for another three years.”
While the original plans were strictly for a hotel, investors are now considering the construction of twenty rental apartments.
The new hotel will reportedly offer an estimated 100 rooms.
The cost of the reconstruction of these historic buildings, now largely empty and derelict, has been estimated at two billion crowns.