tion and history. Zizkov won’t tarnish CPP, he said in effect. CPP will gentrify Zizkov.

In the Beginning

After the communist regime fell in 1989, the new Czech government placed privatization of state properties near the top of its agenda. Despite privatization’s many stumbles and missteps, history has validated this strategy.

Privatization and its cousin, restitution, ignited the engines and the energy of private ownership. The result, in just a decade and a half, is evident in the cheery facades, the builders’ scaffo

Sales and rentals of real estate in the Czech Republic, and especially in the capital, Prague, are booming.

This boom is genuine. It does not flow from the kind of “irrational exuberance” that U.S. economist Alan Greenspan once warned his countrymen to avoid.

The robust health of the real property markets here covers every segment: middle- and high-end residential, hospitality, retail, office and industrial. And it is founded on the strongest economic growth in the country’s history.

The government numbers for last year are out. They show that the Czech Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, remained this year at 2005’s high of 6.1 percent.

Some leading analysts say that this is the peak and that annual economic growth will level off now at a sustainable 5 percent. Household spending remains strong, inflation moderate and long-term investors active.

Of the trio of CEE nations that entered the European Union in 2004 – the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland -- the Czechs far-and-away have blossomed most in the free markets. Boutique hotels & Serviced Apartments

Much of the strength of today’s Czech economy stems from tourism. Prague, the “city of a thousand spires,” has become also the city of 100 four- and five-star hotels. Leading the way in the last two years has been the march of a phenomenon known as boutique hotels. These are small, often expensive hostelries with individual personalities. A recent example: the Mandarin Oriental, housed in a former 14th century monastery in Mala Strana,

Gentrifying Zizkov

Residential development also is powering real estate action. The present king of this segment is Central Park Praha, part of 50 hectares of land where Zizkov meets Vinohrady, from near Hlavni Nadrazi to Olsanska hrzbitov (cemetery).

At a cost of 4 billion crowns, developer CPP Development is constructing 180 of what it calls “luxury residential apartments,” already virtually sold out at prices from 10 million crowns each to twice that.

CPP Development’s Managing Director Milan Ganik recently told The Prague Post that he is untroubled by the Zizkov neighborhood’s raffish reputation and history. Zizkov won’t tarnish CPP, he said in effect. CPP will gentrify Zizkov.

In the Beginning

After the communist regime fell in 1989, the new Czech government placed privatization of state properties near the top of its agenda. Despite privatization’s many stumbles and missteps, history has validated this strategy.

Privatization and its cousin, restitution, ignited the engines and the energy of private ownership. The result, in just a decade and a half, is evident in the cheery facades, the builders’ scaffol

are out. They show that the Czech Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, remained this year at 2005’s high of 6.1 percent.

Some leading analysts say that this is the peak and that annual economic growth will level off now at a sustainable 5 percent. Household spending remains strong, inflation moderate and long-term investors active.

Of the trio of CEE nations that entered the European Union in 2004 – the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland -- the Czechs far-and-away have blossomed most in the free markets. Boutique hotels & Serviced Apartments

Much of the strength of today’s Czech economy stems from tourism. Prague, the “city of a thousand spires,” has become also the city of 100 four- and five-star hotels. Leading the way in the last two years has been the march of a phenomenon known as boutique hotels. These are small, often expensive hostelries with individual personalities. A recent example: the Mandarin Oriental, housed in a former 14th century monastery in Mala Strana,

Gentrifying Zizkov

Residential development also is powering real estate action. The present king of this segment is Central Park Praha, part of 50 hectares of land where Zizkov meets Vinohrady, from near Hlavni Nadrazi to Olsanska hrzbitov (cemetery).

At a cost of 4 billion crowns, developer CPP Development is constructing 180 of what it calls “luxury residential apartments,” already virtually sold out at prices from 10 million crowns each to twice that.

CPP Development’s Managing Director Milan Ganik recently told The Prague Post that he is untroubled by the Zizkov neighborhood’s raffish reputation and history. Zizkov won’t tarnish CPP, he said in effect. CPP will gentrify Zizkov.

In the Beginning

After the communist regime fell in 1989, the new Czech government placed privatization of state properties near the top of its agenda. Despite privatization’s many stumbles and missteps, history has validated this strategy.

Privatization and its cousin, restitution, ignited the engines and the energy of private ownership. The result, in just a decade and a half, is evident in the cheery facades, the builders’ scaffo

ced Apartments

Much of the strength of today’s Czech economy stems from tourism. Prague, the “city of a thousand spires,” has become also the city of 100 four- and five-star hotels. Leading the way in the last two years has been the march of a phenomenon known as boutique hotels. These are small, often expensive hostelries with individual personalities. A recent example: the Mandarin Oriental, housed in a former 14th century monastery in Mala Strana,

Gentrifying Zizkov

Residential development also is powering real estate action. The present king of this segment is Central Park Praha, part of 50 hectares of land where Zizkov meets Vinohrady, from near Hlavni Nadrazi to Olsanska hrzbitov (cemetery).

At a cost of 4 billion crowns, developer CPP Development is constructing 180 of what it calls “luxury residential apartments,” already virtually sold out at prices from 10 million crowns each to twice that.

CPP Development’s Managing Director Milan Ganik recently told The Prague Post that he is untroubled by the Zizkov neighborhood’s raffish reputation and history. Zizkov won’t tarnish CPP, he said in effect. CPP will gentrify Zizkov.

In the Beginning

After the communist regime fell in 1989, the new Czech government placed privatization of state properties near the top of its agenda. Despite privatization’s many stumbles and missteps, history has validated this strategy.

Privatization and its cousin, restitution, ignited the engines and the energy of private ownership. The result, in just a decade and a half, is evident in the cheery facades, the builders’ scaffo

action. The present king of this segment is Central Park Praha, part of 50 hectares of land where Zizkov meets Vinohrady, from near Hlavni Nadrazi to Olsanska hrzbitov (cemetery).

At a cost of 4 billion crowns, developer CPP Development is constructing 180 of what it calls “luxury residential apartments,” already virtually sold out at prices from 10 million crowns each to twice that.

CPP Development’s Managing Director Milan Ganik recently told The Prague Post that he is untroubled by the Zizkov neighborhood’s raffish reputation and history. Zizkov won’t tarnish CPP, he said in effect. CPP will gentrify Zizkov.

In the Beginning

After the communist regime fell in 1989, the new Czech government placed privatization of state properties near the top of its agenda. Despite privatization’s many stumbles and missteps, history has validated this strategy.

Privatization and its cousin, restitution, ignited the engines and the energy of private ownership. The result, in just a decade and a half, is evident in the cheery facades, the builders’ scaffo

tion and history. Zizkov won’t tarnish CPP, he said in effect. CPP will gentrify Zizkov.

In the Beginning

After the communist regime fell in 1989, the new Czech government placed privatization of state properties near the top of its agenda. Despite privatization’s many stumbles and missteps, history has validated this strategy.

Privatization and its cousin, restitution, ignited the engines and the energy of private ownership. The result, in just a decade and a half, is evident in the cheery facades, the builders’ scaffolding, the merchandise-stuffed shops and the scurrying crowds that are ubiquitous in Prague, and to a lesser extent in other Czech cities.