REGION
Aleš Zacha, Head of Development at P3 in Czechia
Aleš Zacha began his professional career with a Master’s degree in Economics as a tax advisor at the company Deloitte.
After a couple years, and a career break, he decided to completely switch fields and oriented himself in commercial real
estate. From 2013, he gained experience as an agent for CBRE and later as a manager at Panattoni. He entered P3 in June
of 2020 as a Senior Leasing and Development Manager and, since December 2021, he has stood at the head of the P3
Czech Republic Development division.
What is the current state of land
development at a time when entry points
are becoming more expensive and many
companies have unclear futures?
The demand for industrial premises has
been at a record high since the pandemic.
Some of my colleagues were finishing
around 1.5 contracts a week on average
last year, a pace they are maintaining well
into this year.
New construction projects are also
holding strong, even though some
materials have jumped up in price and
construction is experiencing an employee
shortage. Some of the industrial halls we
build are more speculative, but others
are constructed on a build-to-suit lease,
meaning that work on them begins only
after we find a tenant to whom we adapt
the space.
P3 Ostrava Central is your first
brownfield project. What is your
assessment of this premiere from
a development perspective?
It is a great location within the city where
free plots of land are hard to come by.
The pre-existing infrastructure is, of
course, a great advantage, not to mention
the fact that the area was used for industry
in the past and will now be used for it
again, just in a much more modern form.
This new industrial-business district will
also be open to everyone. In comparison
to what the area contained thus far,
our project will offer a significant
improvement,
including
almost
120,000m2 of new greenery.
Over the past couple years, Ostrava has
seen a surge in high quality developer
projects. Does the local market,
therefore, still have room for you?
The competition in Ostrava is truly high,
and not only is that the case within the city
but in regards to the nearby Polish market
as well. This, of course, bleeds into rent
prices, which are around 25% lower when
compared to Brno or Prague. Despite that,
we still believe in our project. The fact
that it is essentially within the city centre
makes it stand out among other projects.
It will be a colorful mix of logistics, city
logistics, e-commerce, light industry with
the potential for R&D centres and retail
showrooms and pickup locations.
How far has the project progressed
as of right now?
Our first priority is the construction of
backbone infrastructure, that is, an access
road from the main roads and a central
avenue to which the industrial halls will
be connected. Currently, we are also in
the process of constructing three halls,
one with an area of almost 30,000m2 and
the other two significantly smaller.
Can you already reveal the names
of some companies that will rent
your premises?
P3 Ostrava Central’s historically first
tenant is Linde Material Handling. They
will be placing their Northern Moravia
branch in the park where they will sell,
rent and service robotic carts and other
handling technologies as well as offer
intralogistics solutions. The relocation is
planned to take place over the second half
of summer.
We are also in the late stages of
negotiation with a number of other
interesting
companies
spanning
a variety of fields. We still have fifteen
buildings on offer, meaning there is still
a lot of work ahead of us, however, we
definitely look forward to it.
Mr Zacha, thank you for the interview.
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