Bystřice pod Hostýnem will not sell the former Hotel Podhoran, the councilors rejected it

photo: Battlikovec, Wikipedia

Bystřice pod Hostýnem - The town hall in Bystřice pod Hostýnem will not part with the former Podhoran hotel on Masaryk Square. The councilors of the eight-thousand-strong town in Kroměříž district today rejected its sale to the development company JTH Reality. The company planned to build apartments, a restaurant, and other commercial spaces, as well as offices that the municipal office would rent in the decaying building. It also counted on building an underground parking lot.

Five out of the 20 present councilors supported the sale of Podhoran, while the others voted against. A portion of the town's residents also opposed the sale due to past experiences. Dozens of them gathered at the council meeting today. Until 2017, when the town bought the former hotel from a private owner for 16.9 million crowns, the building had functioned for several years as a hostel for socially weak individuals. Local residents, school representatives, and traders had complained about problems with problematic residents, who mostly came from elsewhere.

A petition against the sale of the unused building was created this year. "The petition was signed by about 1,050 citizens, which is a quite respectable number considering the atmosphere in the town," said former mayor and now opposition councilor Zdeněk Pánek (ODS, for SNK European Democrats), who voted against the sale of the building. He proposed that a point regarding the declaration of a referendum on the sale of Podhoran be included in today’s council agenda, but he did not gain sufficient support.

The previous town administration was preparing the building's reconstruction. They wanted to have offices for the municipal office in it and also considered that there could be a library or again a restaurant in the building. However, the current leadership of the Bystřice town hall proposed the sale of the building. According to the material presented to the public by the town representatives, reconstruction would cost between 185 and 261 million crowns. "If we decided to go for a reconstruction, we would not avoid a loan,” said current mayor Zdeněk Rolinc (BEZPP, for Independents), who supported the sale.

According to him, the town cannot utilize any suitable grant titles for the building's repair. He also believes that financing the reconstruction of Podhoran is currently not financially feasible for the town. "Our effort from the beginning was to ensure that the building returns to life in the town," said Rolinc regarding the proposed sale.

Among the councilors who rejected the buyback was also vice-mayor Martin Burdík (ODS). "I still insist that it does not need to be addressed quickly or in haste,” said Burdík. He indicated that he would support the creation of a library in Podhoran, which was considered in one of the studies previously commissioned by the town hall.

Hotel Podhoran was built in the 1970s and had 96 beds. After its privatization in the 1990s, it changed owners several times. It was used as accommodation for people in material need by the then-private owner from 2012 to 2017.