Brno-střed will renovate the covered market for 43 million, and it will open next year

Brno - The city hall of the Brno-střed district will renovate the former House of Food at Zelný trh for 43 million crowns. A covered marketplace will be created there, which dozens of vendors will operate. It is expected to start operating next summer, said Jiří Švachula (ANO), the deputy mayor of the district, today to ČTK. According to opposition councilor Libor Šťástka (ODS), the covered marketplace should have started functioning this year, and the city hall is thus losing a lot of money. In a year, it was expected to generate over 1.2 million crowns in rent.

Building a covered marketplace in the building was desired by the previous ODS and ČSSD leadership when Šťástka was mayor. According to the old plan, the marketplace was supposed to be completed this year, but the new coalition of Žít Brno, ANO, KDU-ČSL, and the Green Party continued to work on the project, resulting in a delayed timeline. Against the original plan, they added more spaces for vendors and restored the building's appearance from earlier years.

"We will remove the insensitive construction modifications from the 1990s and give the building a concept from 1949," stated Švachula. As architect Michal Palaščák told ČTK earlier, the interventions in the building during the 1990s were not good. "It was a maiming of the house, which harmed the spirit of the marketplace. Therefore, we want to return to its original form as much as possible," added Palaščák.

According to Šťástka, it is unclear when the marketplace will be completed. "Everything was approved last year, but we didn't want to announce a tender just before the elections, with the new leadership returning to it after the elections. However, even now a year later, no tender has been announced," Šťástka told reporters in Brno today.

Švachula told ČTK that the tender will be resolved by the end of the year. "We might manage to hand over the construction site by the end of the year; the latest deadline is by mid-February. The marketplace could be opened in the summer. However, it is still too early to specify an exact date," Švachula added.

Originally, the marketplace was supposed to have one floor for vendors, but the new coalition decided that vendors will occupy two floors. The basement will have storage and bathrooms, the ground floor is planned to have a café, while the first and second floors will be designated for sales, and the city hall plans to have a restaurant, bistro, or similar establishment on the third floor. They are still looking for an operator.

Zelný trh operates as a marketplace even today. Vendors selling in the open space have over a hundred designated spots in the square. After the marketplace opens, it will be possible to sell in the square both in summer and winter.