Czech Lighthouse Starts €220M Prague MXD

PRAGUE-Czech mixed developer Lighthouse group has started construction of its 42,000 square meters. Prague shopping mall Galerie Harfa, the first phase of a €220 million shopping-office development on a 15,000 square meter plot by the Czech capital’s sporting and cultural venue 02 Arena. But the project will open later than initially planned.

Eurohypo said in summer last year it was providing funding of €147.5m for the center, to include 39,000 square meters of retail space and nearly 15,000 square meters of office space for completion in June 2010. This month, Prague office chief Udo Scholssere told CiJ magazine Eurohypo is committed to lending €180 million out of a total €220 million in financing costs for the project.

The financing, expected to be the bank’s last transaction in the Czech Republic for the foreseeable future, is on favourable pre-crisis conditions with only 30 to 40% pre-release figures required for both the mall and office.