Brno terminated the contract with the tenant of the Muzejka café due to non-payment

Brno - Brno terminated the lease contract with the tenant of the Muzejka café in the Bergl Palace at Moravské náměstí. The reason is debts for rent and utilities amounting to hundreds of thousands of crowns, said Filip Poňuchálek, spokesperson for the city council, in a press release today. The notice period is three months.

The historic spaces were last open in the spring of 2012, when the Muzejka restaurant connected with the Mju:z music club closed. The then-tenant long refused to vacate the space, so the city re-rented the Muzejka only in May 2016 to the current tenant. "Four and a half years ago, the city signed a contract with plans to revive the spaces so that people would have another place to go for dinner or coffee in the heritage-protected villa," said Poňuchálek.

There were problems with the opening; heritage protectors did not grant permission for the occupancy due to the painting method. "However, the operator had nothing stopping them from using the space for the purpose specified in the contract since at least the end of last year. Unfortunately, this has not happened yet," said Deputy Mayor Jiří Oliva (ČSSD). According to him, the tenant also stopped paying rent. "Their debt to the city is growing, which is unacceptable in the long term," emphasized Oliva.

Councilors had already rejected the proposed agreement for settlement that the company Gattamelata prepared as the tenant. "The proposal was absolutely unacceptable to the city for several reasons. For example, it imposed an obligation on the city to enter into rental agreements for additional spaces in the building with the tenant or changed the rental period from the current indefinite to 25 years," said Oliva. Gattamelata also refused the proposal for an agreement with the city. The city rented the spaces of the former restaurant, the former buffet, and also spaces serving as a restaurant's backstage, storage, or a courtyard area designated for parking.

Bergl Palace, also known as Bergler Palace or Bergl Villa or Muzejka, was built in the 1860s as a neo-Renaissance house with a neo-Gothic facade. The building was designed by Viennese architect Heinrich Ferstel, the author of the nearby Red Church and several other buildings in Brno. The name Muzejka was given to the house in the 1920s when it belonged to the Agricultural Museum and the Museum Café was located on the ground floor. The museum was closed in 1943, but the name remained with the building. It has been heritage-listed since 1964.