PRAGUE (MarketWatch) -- Multi Development SRO, a Czech development company wholly-owned by investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS), secured a tender Wednesday to redevelop Karolina, a 33-hectare former industrial site in the center of the Czech city Ostrava.
Multi Development's project company, Multi Veste Czech Republic 5 SRO, now has three months to negotiate a contract with Ostrava city officials on the purchase of the land at Karolina as well to negotiate details on the projects timeline and further details.
At the heart of the riverside redevelopment plan is a new residential complex as well as commercial units, hotels and leisure facilities.
"We expect the total investment to be between 12 billion and 15 billion koruna ($530 million-$663 million)," said Lubos Koci, manager of Morgan Stanley's Czech development company.
The city of Ostrava will sell the land to the developer at CZK1,310 per square meter, said Ostrava spokeswoman Marie Vaclavkova.
The city has the right but is not obliged to offer the contract to the next bidder should the first one not conclude negotiations on a contract within three months, said Cyril Vltavsky, Ostrava city official responsible for the Karolina redevelopment tender.
The runner up is a consortium led by publicly traded Orco Property Group AS (5767.FR) with TriGranit Czech Republic SRO, followed by a consortium of Czech development Passerinvest Group AS with ECE Projektmanagement Praha SRO, ING Eighth Real Estate Development SRO. Sekyra Group AS submitted the lowest bid.
Should Multi Veste fail to meet the city's conditions and finish negotiations on the contract within three months, the city will invite Orco and TriGranit to close a contract to purchase the land and develop the site.
"If everything goes well, the land will be sold by the end of the year and the development can begin," Vaclavkova said.
All structures at the Karolina site, that was formerly a coking plant, were previously razed by the city. Land reclamation works included soil decontamination and were financed by the state and municipality.
Ostrava is the Czech Republic's third-largest city with a population of over half a million people.
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