So what exactly is a brownfield? It is a plot or area of land that was once used, for example, for industry or agriculture, but now lies unused or neglected, with minimal potential for natural regeneration. Such sites are, however, ideal candidates for thorough revitalisation and for being put to new uses, such as housing, business or public services.
Interesting empty plots in Prague's wider centre – with good access to the city centre by car or public transport and solid local amenities – have become notably scarce. The trend of building “in the fields beyond Prague” is therefore certainly slowly coming to an end. The only exception is perhaps satellite towns made up of detached or terraced family houses. These, however, rarely end up in the portfolios of real estate investors and subsequently on the rental market.
Sites with an industrial heritage theoretically offer the option of building artistic lofts or maisonettes, but developers more often opt for complete demolition and the construction of entirely new flats
By contrast, interesting brownfields awaiting a total transformation can be found all over Prague. We have picked four of them that are worth keeping an eye on, along with developers' plans for further construction at these sites.
The Bubny-Zátory brownfield
The site of the former freight station, which effectively separated Holešovice from Letná, has not served its original purpose for several decades now. Yet it is the largest brownfield in Prague, covering some 110 hectares. The area has recently undergone complete decontamination and preparation for large-scale construction comprising roughly 11,000 flats for 25,000 people. The entire new district should be fully completed around 2040.
The Žižkov freight station
We have already covered the Žižkov freight station on the FLAT SERVICE blog in a separate article. One of the largest vacant sites in Prague, located quite literally within sight of the historic centre, has been divided up among all the major players in the market for newly built flats. Some of them (e.g. Penta Real Estate) already hold a final building permit. The roughly 30-hectare brownfield is set to become home to some 20,000 Praguers.
The Bohdalec-Slatiny development area
In the vast area lying between Vršovice, Strašnice and Záběhlice you will currently find a run-down allotment colony, the remnants of interwar emergency housing and meadows overgrown with self-seeded trees. Some plans refer to this area as the Strašnice brownfield. However, an extensive urban planning study commissioned by the City of Prague envisages this land being fully built up in the coming decades. And that despite the fact that the site was originally earmarked as a reserve for marshalling high-speed trains.
If thousands of flats really do go up in Bohdalec, they will most likely sit on top of a huge underground facility for the high-speed rail line with its terminus at Zahradní Město
The Dolní Počernice municipal brownfield
The last project is special in that it is an 18-hectare brownfield owned directly by the City of Prague. The city is preparing to build flats here in cooperation with the Prague Development Company. We have covered this project too in a separate article on our blog, where you can find out more. Between 2026 and 2034, around 800 rental units should be built here.
Other completed, planned and ongoing projects
There is, of course, a whole range of interesting sites in the wider centre that are currently undergoing a huge transformation, or where one is seriously being considered. They include, for example, the Smíchov City development, a transformation of the local freight station, the projects under the Rohan City banner on the island of the same name in Karlín, the huge new residential complex on K Žižkovu street within sight of the O2 Arena, and the conversion of the former Chirana factories in Modřany (the Meta Lofts project) and Avia in Letňany. Projects on former brownfields that have already been completed or are nearing completion include Tesla Hloubětín, Nuselský pivovar, Waltrovka, So-Ho and Lihovar Smíchov.
The total area of Prague's brownfields is estimated at an incredible 940 hectares, so if fully used they could provide new housing for hundreds of thousands of people. The key question, naturally, remains the financing of the associated infrastructure and amenities, which developers are understandably in no rush to take on.
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