Richard Moravek

Richard Moravek was born on March 26, 1970, in Zabreh. He spent his childhood in Mohelnice and Olomouc and studied at Gymnazium Jana Opletala in Litovel.

After finishing school he married, completed compulsory military service, and by 1992 was already in business.

His first ventures were far from skyscrapers. With his brother in law he ran a food wholesale business that imported Thai products, including pineapple.

When supermarket chains squeezed that market, he moved into real estate. With investor Ivan Gersl he formed Zenmex and later other firms that became the platform for larger development work in Olomouc.

On the former Milo industrial grounds beside the Mlynsky potok he helped create Galerie Santovka, opened in 2013. The centre became the largest shopping mall in the Olomouc Region and won Stavba roku 2014.

Around it grew Santovka Living, plans for Santovka District, and the long debated Santovka Tower. Moravek cast the work as an urban remake of a whole neighbourhood rather than a single retail box.

He founded Redstone in 2015. The group expanded into Pardubice with Galerie Pernerka, into Prague with trophy assets such as Palac Myslbek and OC Flora via Max Realitni fund, and into Ostrava brownfield ideas branded Nove Vitkovice.

Other Olomouc work included Envelopa Office Center, Senatorium long term care beds opened in 2025, student housing plans, and the Nová Velkomoravska vision with a multi purpose arena.

Redstone backed Olomouc basketball and hockey. Moravek served about ten years as a vice chair of the Czech Bowling Association.

He helped found Divadlo na Santovce and bought Fort XX in Krelov, turning the fortress into a venue for concerts, philanthropy events and community gatherings.

On November 20, 2019, he was among the founders of the Helena Moravek Foundation, contributing seed capital and serving on its board.

The foundation supports families and individuals in crisis, people with disabilities and adaptive sport. Local reporters who worked with the foundation remembered him as more than a name on a registry.

In 2019 he and sommelier Vit Bartosek acquired Chateau Escot in Bordeaux and began restoring the estate. He likened winemaking to development: both need patience and long care.

He also walked the Camino from Porto to Santiago de Compostela and spoke of cooking, travel and wine as personal passions.

Some of his early business ties and the Santovka Tower fight drew sharp public criticism, including heritage and ecology concerns and arguments over city contracts.

Supporters pointed to finished buildings that thousands use daily. Critics said some deals favoured the developer. Both strands remain part of the public record.

In July 2026 Moravek suffered a serious head injury while on holiday in Spain and underwent surgery there. In August he was transferred to University Hospital Olomouc.

He died in the early hours of September 17, 2026, aged 56. Redstone spokesman Michal Folta confirmed the news, and the group asked for privacy for the family while stressing that management would keep the firm running.

Santovka, Envelopa, Senatorium, Fort XX and the foundation are among the places and institutions that continue after him. Unfinished schemes such as further Santovka phases and Nová Velkomoravska remain for his partners to carry forward.

Colleagues and local media remembered both the billion crown portfolios and the quieter civic work he funded.