A former telephone exchange/central office in Prague, Czechia, is set to be replaced with a luxury residential project.

Penta Real Estate has obtained a permit for the construction of a new residential building. The company aims to demolish the vacant telecommunications building at Petrská 18 and develop 82 luxury apartments. The cubist-inspired project is scheduled for completion in 2028.

Penta Real Estate is a Czech firm largely focused on residential and office developments.

The former Czech Telecom/Telefónica telecommunications building dates back to the 1970s, but it’s unclear when the telecoms firm exited the facility. Penta acquired the site at the end of 2021 with plans for a residential project. The previous owner had plans for an office development on the site.

What is now O2 Czech Republic was founded as the state-owned SPT Telecom and later became Český Telecom (Czech Telecom). The firm was acquired by Telefónica in 2005, with local investment firm PPF acquiring a majority stake in 2013 and using the O2 name under license.

Incumbent telecoms operators around the world are in the midst of shutting down their legacy copper networks, closing thousands of telephone exchanges in the process. Many telephone exchanges are located in inner-city metros, making them ripe for conversion into residential developments.

In Canada, Telus is converting many former exchanges into residential developments. Telereal Trillium, the owner of most of BT/Openreach’s exchanges in the UK, has converted several exchanges into residential properties.

Another former Czech Telecom exchange in the city of Teplice is set to be demolished and replaced with a hotel development. Work started on the demolition last year.