Weather in June/July

For those of you that have never visited eastern Europe, the weather can be a very interesting topic. While many people tend to compare the summer months in Eastern Europe to the summer months on the East Coast, there are some small differences.

On occasion, the weather in Eastern Europe mirrors the hot humid temperature of the East Coast, but this is very rare. It tends not to reach the high levels of humidity that characterize many East Coast states. Rather, the weather usually falls into 2 categories: hot and sunny or overcast and chilly. Sometimes its a mix. Nonetheless, it rarely gets as hot and humid as the East Coast and if it does, it lasts for a much shorter period of time.

Perhaps one of the most unique things about the weather in Eastern Europe is day length. Because many Eastern European countries are so far north, the sun doesn’t go down until after 10pm. Madrid is at about the same latitude as Philadelphia. In most of the U.S., the sun tends to go down around 8pm in the summer months.  Thus, many Eastern Europeans don’t go out for dinner until 11pm while some Americans may already be in bed.  This promotes a very unique and active nightlife for many Eastern Europeans. I remember on one occasion, having been clubbing all night, emerging from a club around 4am to find that the sun was already out.

This unique weather pattern allows for some down time after work and before dinner. It adds a more laidback element to the culture of Eastern Europeans. While many Americans are equated to a “rush rush rush” mentality, the length of day allows Eastern Europeans more hours in a day, and perhaps more time to relax and enjoy the sunshine after a long day at work.

Reconnecting in Prague

To start off, it’s been a LONG time since we’ve posted anything on here. For any loyal readers, we sincerely apologize.

This post is going to focus on my return to Prague in 2007 and my experiences while I was there. In 2007, I returned to Prague for the first time since leaving Europe in 2001. The opportunity arose to visit following a conference for the Licensing Executive Society International in Zurich. The purpose of my visit was to reconnect with colleagues I had known whilst doing business there who were either Czech or had remained in Prague over the years, in furtherance of my international corporate law practice.

Upon arriving in Prague, I checked into the Hilton. Back in the day, the Hilton was called the Atrium. It is now the Hilton Atrium Hotel. Once I had checked into my room, my first stop was to see whether one of my favorite pubs was still in business. The restaurant was called V Jama, a Czech pub a few hundred yards from Wenceslas Square near the first McDonald’s in Prague.  The pub started right around the time I was trying to get my own American Bar and Grill off the ground in Prague. This American succeeded.

To my everlasting joy, V Jama is still in business. Today, the restaurant serves a wide variety of foods including a mixture of Tex Mex, traditional Czech and contemporary American dishes. The choices range from fried chicken wings to spicy burritos. I went into the familiar restaurant, sat at the bar, and ordered a Czech beer. I properly worshipped this half liter of wonderful beer before drinking it. After a few more, I realized that I was sitting right next to the owner of the bar. After a little while, we recognized each other and began to reminisce over several other people I knew from the days I lived there. It was a wonderful beginning to what turned out to be a great visit to Prague.

Zurich in June

R.Epstein

At the front of my Central/Eastern European swing, I was in Zurich for a meeting of the Licensing Executive Society International, as its name implies, an international licensing organization. If interested, check it out at www.les.org. This was my first visit to Zurich ever and I was pleasantly surprised by the city.

The weather was changable to say the least. When I arrived is was raining very hard. That was a Friday. Over the weekend, the sun came out and it was surprisingly hot and humid. Zurich does not sit at a particularly high altitude, so suffers most Central European weather. But I was able to get out and about the city easily and the conference had events around as well making it quite an enjoyable stay.

The City itself is a pretty place. One can always find a seedier side of a city even Zurich. But it is not as big or as easily found as in other places. All in all, Zurich in June was a pleasant if not exciting place.

Global Connect

R.Epstein

When I left San Diego in 1992 for Prague, it was a very different place than it is today. In 1992, San Diego was “enjoying” the peace dividend which caused the virtual destruction of the defense industry there and less military spending in a town very dependent economically on the presence of the Navy and Marines. The recession of the early ’90’s caused the tourist industry to slow and the exodus of the defense industry workers caused a demographic shift which caused real estate to lose 30 to 50% of its value by around 1995. And that was about all there was. But that was then.

Now, San Diego enjoys a very diverse ecomony that simply did not exist in 1992. There is a vibrant telecom segment which has spilled over into sofware development and internet companies. There is the second or third most important biotech cluster in the world. And then the military presence, the comeback of the defense industry as a result of 9/11 and tourism is stronger than ever. But where did all of this come from?

UCSD Connect, now known as simply Connect, with its offshoot of Global Connect. For more information about the current organization, go to www.connect.org. Historically, UCSD Connect, with its ability to tap into the creative genius of the faculty of UCSD and bring professional service providers and venture capital around them, it was able to become a catalyst for the growth of both of the technology communities. Through Global Connect, www.globalconnect.ucsd.edu, the Connect concept is being successfully spread around the world. A very good thing in the author’s humble opinion.

Networking in Central/Eastern Europe

R.Epstein

As in most places, your rolladex often proves the difference between success and failure. The old adage, “It’s not what you know but who you know” is as true in CEE as it is anywhere else in the world. Perhaps even more so. So buliding a network in CEE is one of the keys to success here.

I’ve been blessed with a relatively outgoing personality which allows me to go out and meet people without too much trouble. Everyone gets tired of this eventually, even me! Bu the critical aspect of this is to do it in an efficient way so that you put yourself in the best position possible to make the kinds of contacts that can really add value to whatever you’re doing. Again, this is true universally and I dare say I’d be surprised if anyone were to disagree.

So in CEE, where to do you go even if you happen to be an outgoing dynamo. This was the problem back in the early 90’s because there simply wasn’t anywhere. Today there are many organizations that hold regular mixers and other educational events that are great places to network. The commerical sections of the many embassies, the chambers of commerce of many countries and the local Lions Clubs or Rotary Clubs exist and usually welcome foreigners. Socially, one of the best way to get to know the funnest group of people in a city is the Hash House Harriers, better known as a drinkers club with a running problem. Check out www.gthhh.com and have fun!

American Bar & Grill in Prague – Part 5

R.Epstein

During our first 9 months in Prague, we had and lost at least three different groups who had committed to finance the project. The last group was led by a Czech who owned an import/export company and convinced us he was prepared to put up the 300,000 USD we thought would get the reconstruction done and six months into the business. Sounds crazy now, but this was my partners project and I was following his lead. Such were the fast times in Prague in 1993.

The truth was never made clear to us. Either he didn’t have the money or just got cold feet when it came time to pay. These many years later I am still convinced that it was a winning concept. Whether or not we could have executed is another story entirely. To a certain level I’m sure, but given how my partner conducted himself in our telecom business, we definitely would have reached a limit if we didn’t bring in other talent. But now we’ll never know.

By the summer of 1993, we had gotten under construction, expended the little money we had saved before coming to Europe and reached a decision point. We could afford to give the bar and grill concept another four months or so, and if nothing broke, we would be and probably would have had to return to the US. We decided to put the project on hold indefinitely and begin seeking out clients to consult with and interestingly found a few rather quickly. My partners hotel experience came in very handy as he landed a few hotel consulting jobs. By September the telecom business began to hit so suddenly things didn’t look so dire. At least not for a while!

Eastern European Trip in June/July 2007

R.Epstein

I’ve been in the CEE region for the past couple of weeks now currently finishing up a visit to Bratislava. I was in Prague for five days and now Bratislava for three. Tomorrow I board a boat for a cruise down the Danube to Budapest. Better than a train or renting a car, and since there are no flights, it’s the best way to go! In Budapest I’ve got a very busy schedule including a presenation on doing business in the US, of all things, the Export Club. Then it’s off to Warsaw to rendevous with my family who are already there before coming back to Paris and then home.

The trip so far has been fantastic. I’ve been reconnecting with old friends who are still living in the region as well as making new ones. The economies here are booming. Slovakia perhaps leading the pack as one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union. Many attribute the success to an across the board flat tax of 19% for business and individuals alike.

Prague is still one of the most amazingly beautiful cities I’ve ever seen. Walking the Old and New Towns as well as the Castle Districts was magical. I was transported back in time to 1992 when I first arrived there. It felt like I was in every building in the city, which may not be far from the truth as I was peddling our telecom service to anyone and everyone in the city.

It is great to be back. The beer, the architecture, the people. Incredible place. Still relatively inexpensive although nothing like it was in the early 90’s. And incredible opportunity abounds. In addition to reconnecting with old contact and making new ones, I am on assignment for two clients who are looking at the region for very different purposes. More on that in my next posting.

An American Bar & Grill in Prague – Part 4

R.Epstein

As it turned out, this wonderful Czech doctor was also restituted a beautiful small building on Bartakova Street, just a block down from the Hotel Incontinental off of Parizka Street in Stare Miasto. While not perhaps prime prime location, it was pretty good for what we had in mind. We were able to negotiate a healthy free rent period during which we needed to reconstruct the basement of this building which had not had a lot of attention for quite some time. We convinced the good doctor that we could get this project off the ground. We obtained the right licensing for running a restaurant, had architectural plans drawn up and got underway with reconstruction on what could have been an incredibly fun place for Czechs and ex-pats to have a beer and enjoy a fund Americana type bar and grill.

The lease agreement was surprisingly Western in content. We negotiated several months of free rent while reconstruction was to take place. We negotiated option periods so that we could extend the lease if things went well over time. All in all it looked very much like the leases I had been litigating for five years before coming to Prague. Everything seemed to be falling into place . . .

Real Estate in Eastern Europe

R.Epstein

We recently decided to upgrade our real estate holdings in Eastern Europe. Back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, we purchased several flats and a piece of ready-to-be-built-on land just outside of Warsaw. We plan to sell the flats, refinance the debt on the land and purchase one or more investment properties to be managed professionally.

In investigating the residential real property managers, I was not surprised to find very few companies providing that service. Had I not returned to the US in 2001, that was a business I was seriously considering starting. But one very interesting website emerged from the research I was doing. Amberlamb Property Reports I found to be a very interesting source of information on real estate in Eastern Europe. It can be found at http://www.amberlamb.com/. In my humble opinion, some of the best real estate investment opportunities in the world exist in Eastern Europe.

An American Bar & Grill in Prague – Part 3

R.Epstein

As we pick up the string of Parts 1 and 2, the next phase of the project was to find a location in the center of Prague for the restaurant. As everyone knows, location, location and location are the three most important aspects of any retail business. In Prague in 1993, there were many interesting sites available because restitution was in full swing. Czechs whose family owned real estate in the city prior to the communist takeover after World War II were getting that real estate back. Of course they were getting it back in an “as is” condition. If they were really lucky, they could sell it for a substantial amount if the location was excellent or the building had somehow survived in good condition. Most of the buildings may have looked nice on the outside, but needed a significant amount of renovation before it could be lived in or used for a commercial purpose.

In our case, we were working with a real estate agent that became a good friend. Hanka had gone to Canada, met her husband, married and brought him back to Prague in 1990. She worked for one of the more aggressive real estate agencies at the time, but as a friend, she really worked hard to help us find a good location. And in fact, we found a location off of Pariska Street across and down the street from the Intercontinental Hotel in Stare Miesto. In short, a very good location.

The owner was a classic denizen of Prague at the time. A very sophisticated doctor who had suffered through the communist’s time only to have a renaissance in his sixties as Prague blossomed again. This elegant gentleman had gotten, as he put it, “a little bit rich” when he and his sister had been restituted a beautiful large building on Vaclawke Namesti, along with ten other of their cousins! They then sold it to a predatory real estate shark who put a little bit of money into it and then sold it again. In the next installment, we’ll go over the terms which finally brought in some of my own direct experience as an attorney doing legal work in the real estate area.