The capital city wants to repair the Old Town Market for a quarter of a billion

Prague - Prague plans to invest 250 million crowns into the renovation of the Old Town Market Hall. The city councilor for property, Karel Grabein Procházka (ANO), said this to reporters today. Originally, the city wanted to sign a contract with a private operator who would renovate the listed building at their own expense and then operate it free of charge for 25 years. However, according to the councilor, it turned out that this was not worthwhile for the private entities.

"We are preparing a proposal that we would reconstruct the market hall with the money of the capital city and only then offer it to commercial entities," the councilor stated. The plan is expected to be submitted to the council soon. During the renovation, the city is supposed to come up with an overall concept for the market hall that would determine what areas would be rented out and for what purposes.

The plan for a contract with a private concessionaire, which was approved by the city council last June, is, according to Procházka, not realistic in light of the required investment amount. The city already has a completed and approved renovation project, which would cost about a quarter of a billion crowns. Currently, a procedure is underway to obtain a zoning decision.

The market hall is located in an enclosed courtyard bordered by 28. října, Rytířská, Perlová, and Na Můstku streets. The ground floor of the listed building, which dates back to 1894, currently serves as a shopping center. Individual shops and restaurants are built into the historic building. For a typical visitor to the shopping center, the heritage value of the market hall is only reminded by the decorated passage from Rytířská Street. Beyond that, people can only see a part of the building's roof structure through the built-in walls and ceilings of the shops, which in one place reveals a glass view.

After the renovations, the partitions should be removed and the building is expected to return to selling food and other goods from stalls. Given its central location, according to Procházka, the focus should be on higher-priced goods.