A private realtor and a city spokesman look at the year ahead. If Bratislava's supply of top-standard office space does not catch up to demand by 1998, it should by 1999, according to Marek Porubovič of the agency Reas. This, he predicted, will happen in the short-term through the reconstruction of existing buildings, rather than the construction of new ones. Investors looking to erect new office facilities are just beginning to enter Bratislava's market, and competition in this sphere is going to take a couple of years before it really takes off.
Good office space is in pitifully short supply, but high standard housing remains even more scarce, and Porubovič believes development companies will soon start filling the residential market niche. With the market so starved that Petržalka flats are renting for 6,000 Sk a month, new five-room apartments are selling for 5 million Sk, and family houses are selling for 10 million Sk, investments can be earned back quickly. A couple of models to watch will be the housing developments going up in the outlying city district of Záhorská Bystrica and the suburban village of Limbach.
Mayor Peter Kresánek's press secretary, Milan Vajda, listed projects on which he expects to see significant progress in 1997. He included Hotel Carlton, Zámocká ulica, Stará Tržnica, and the area under the castle near Rybárský Cech restaurant-projects that would do wonders for Bratislava's image if they are ever realized.
Less chic, but more apt to see substantive, lucrative action this year are land the city will develop across from the Palace of Justice, and property next to VÚB's new tower that is likely to be grabbed by another bank.
