The former Strojař hotel will remain with the city, it will be demolished, decided the councilors

Prerov - The abandoned hotel house Strojař, which the city bought seven years ago for more than 40 million crowns to prevent the emergence of another social accommodation, will not be sold. The councilors today revoked their two-year-old resolution, instead approving the intention to start project preparation for new residential construction in the form of a public competition using a competitive dialogue. The transformation of the dilapidated hotel into modern housing should precede demolition, the councilors decided. Previous plans regarding the use of the building have so far been a fiasco; the city wants to utilize the planned subsidies from the Ministry of Regional Development in the future.

In October 2021, the councilors decided to sell the property also in light of the fact that the city had received several requests for purchasing or exchanging the Strojař building. An expert had then appraised the price of the hotel at nearly 47 million crowns. The association Together for Prerov fought for the preservation of Strojař in the city's ownership, and its members collected signatures in the streets to organize a referendum. According to councilor Jan Horký, they have collected over two thousand signatures so far.

According to Mayor Petr Vrána (ANO), this issue is being reopened due to the upcoming subsidies for housing support from the Ministry of Regional Development. By 2025, three billion crowns from the State Investment Support Fund will go towards the construction of apartments, along with another eight billion crowns from the National Recovery Plan, as stated in the resolution for the councilors. "I was against the municipality being a developer, but the moment subsidies are being prepared for these purposes, I am in favor and let's build it," Vrána stated. According to Deputy Mayor Vladimír Lichnovský (ANO), five million crowns have been allocated in the 2024 budget for the preparation of this project.

The councilors approved the demolition of the dilapidated building; its transformation into a modern apartment house would be economically challenging, and the construction also does not have suitable layouts for these purposes. According to the city architect, it will be a multi-year project. First, a competitive dialogue will be announced, followed by project preparation for the demolition of the building, and demolition in 2025. Construction could start between 2026 and 2027. According to the plans, up to 77 apartments could be created here, either in the form of subsidies for rental, cooperative, or community housing. The total costs are estimated to be over 300 million crowns.

The fate of the nine-story panel building Strojař near the center has occupied two successive city administrations. Among the plans was to convert the apartments into facilities for young families or seniors, but also demolitions and the preparation of the area for a new investor; however, all plans ended in failure, partly due to costs. The spaces in the Strojař building are used under a loan agreement from October 2019 by the Regional Directorate of the Police of the Olomouc Region for the training of police officers and members of the integrated rescue system in emergency situations. In September this year, this training caused a fire in one of the rooms; the city wants to conclude an amendment to the loan agreement to specify the conditions for the use of the building, as stated in the resolution for the councilors.