V Tower

Apartments

There are 120 flats in total, ranging from smaller studios, to large apartments, and four story penthouses with private gardens and recreational swimming pools on the roof of the complex. Additionally, there is a gym, a spa and sauna, and a swimming pool available to all residents between the ground floor and the third level, as well as facilities to care for the residents' pets, dry cleaning facilities, and catering services. The ground floor of the complex will consist only of a reception desk and vertical cores. There is also to be a concierge in the lobby at all times and each apartment owner will have access to the tower’s garages, where they can safely park their vehicles whilst on the premises. These garages will be located underneath the complex, with 254 spaces across 3 floors. Additionally, there will be a dedicated team of handymen working at the complex who will cater to the needs of the residents. The individual apartments are all designed to be primarily sunlit and will open into the park area which surrounds the building. There will be one to five bedrooms in each apartment and residents will have access to a children's room in the building.

The sales of the V Tower’s apartments launched in September, 2015. The apartments have been put on the market at a starting price of 100,000 Crowns (approximately $3200 USD) per square meter. However, the higher up the apartment is in the complex, the higher the price will become and Aceur Investments have been unwilling to disclose the cost of the most expensive apartments and luxury penthouses. The flats vary noticeably in their size with the smallest ones being 50 square meters and the largest being 380 square meters.

Location

The building itself is located in the area above the Vltava river with views of the city centre, as well as Prague Castle and the residential neighbourhoods Vysehrad and Vinohrady. The apartment complex is also to be situated close to a number of leisure facilities which may be enjoyed by residents. The site is approximately the same distance from the downtown shops on Parizska Street, and the State Opera, as it is to the Hodkovicky Golf Resort and the Velka Chuchle horse racing facility. There are also a number of schools – both Czech and International – which are located within a 10-minute driving distance from the high-rise, including New PORG, The English International School of Prague and the International Montessori School of Prague.

Pankrác Plain is the only suitable location within the center of Prague which is suitable for the construction of high-rise flats. This was verified using a number of widely accepted architectural tests which date back many years. The tower is to be situated on Pankrác Plain and will be near three other pre-existing skyscrapers. These high-rises are each of 109, 104, and 79 meters in height. Because of the high number of high-rises in the area, the plain has been dubbed the “Prague Manhattan” as the skyline is becoming reminiscent of one which would be seen in New York. In addition to the other skyscrapers which are also situated on the plain, V Tower will be close to a residential building, which is also yet to be built, but is planned to have a height of 108 metres.

Design

V tower was designed by the award-winning architectural studio, Radan Hubička. The architectural studio has been successful in producing renowned designs for residential buildings and luxury apartments and, in 2005, the company won a competition to design the City Epoque Complex in Prague. This is now the location of V Tower, in addition to a four star Sheraton Hotel. The idea behind the shape of V Tower is to represent the yin and yang - the masculine and the feminine. The "V" is symbolic of openness, optimism, joy, and freedom. The building itself is constructed of glass walls which are designed so that they will reflect light from every angle, as opposed from being transparent. Glass partitions and sliding doors will be used inside the apartments to create the openness of which the "V" is symbolic. The apartments in V Tower will boast technology never seen before in the Czech Republic, including technology for tranquil cooling, heating and ventilation to ensure the right temperature for residents which has only been seen before at the 2010 Olympics sites in Vancouver, Canada, and in a small number of residences in Cote d'Azur, France. The developers are also focusing on the smart use of electric energy. Working on the acoustics of the apartments are British experts who specialise in soundproofing, having previously worked on submarines, as well as other high rise towers in Canada. This will be done to prevent excessive noise caused by high winds - particularly in the higher apartments.

ECM Real Estate Investments Bankruptcy

The original developer of V Tower was ECM Real Estate Investments but, upon the company's bankruptcy in 2013, Aceur Investments took over the project. This resulted in the redesigning of the building, with the new developers working in conjunction with architect Radan Hubička to create the new designs. The plans changed so drastically that new planning and construction permits had to be acquired before construction could begin and the progress of development was pushed back by two years, with new completion date expected to be in the third quarter of 2017. When the project was being developed by ECM Real Estate Investments, it was called "Epoque".

Cost

It is estimated that the cost of construction of V Tower will come to 3 Billion CZK, which is approximately $123,706,230.00 USD.

Objections

In the initial stages of planning V Tower (even before ECM Real Estate Investments went bankrupt) there were concerns over whether or not the building would be approved. Prague locals objected to the further construction of high-rises and started a campaign in an attempt to prevent the towers from being built. This campaign was picked up by experts from UNESCO World Heritage Committee, who were also worried that the skyscrapers would destroy Prague’s historical and unique skyline. UNESCO objected to the heights of the buildings which were proposed to be erected in such close proximity to Prague’s historical centre. They required one of the proposed buildings be reduced to a maximum height of 70 metres as they feared any higher could be detrimental to Prague’s tourist industry. The result of this decision was that the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic reviewed their decision to construct the buildings. The plans for the buildings had to be revised due to this in order to try and resolve the issue. When development was taken over by Aceur Investments, there were no new concerns raised over the new construction plans, and V Tower has been allowed to go ahead as planned.

Awards

Despite completion of construction not expected until 2017, V Tower has already won two awards. The building received both Best Residential High-rise Architecture Czech Republic and Best Residential High-rise Development Czech Republic in the European category at the International Property Awards in 2015. It also aspires to acquire Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification, requiring the building to adhere to what are considered to be the most stringent set of requirements before it can receive the green building certification. When the tower is fully completed, it will be the only residential high-rise in not only the Czech Republic, but also the whole of Europe to have achieved such a high ranking.

Additionally, V Tower will also compete in the International Property Awards on behalf of Europe. It will compete in the world finals in the architectural high-rise building division, where it will come up against the winners from this category from all around the world. The tower will be challenged by the UK, America, Africa, Arab countries, and the Asia-Pacific region. A committee made up of 80 leading experts in the fields of real estate, architects, and designers will decide the winner based on the award criteria, which consists of: safety, sustainability, and architecture. The finals of the International Property Awards, where the winner will be decided, takes place in early December in London in 2015.