Karlova univerzita purchased the former squat Milada for 57 million CZK

Prague – Charles University has purchased the dilapidated First Republic villas Milada and Miluška from the Office for the Representation of the State in Property Affairs (ÚZSVM), located on the border of the Prague districts of Libeň and Troja. It paid nearly 57 million crowns for them. The former squat site will be transformed into classrooms and student dormitories.

The purchase agreement was signed in October, and today was the last deadline for payment of the amount of 56,753 million crowns, according to ÚZSVM spokesperson Michaela Tesařová. "However, the university managed to make the payment in the first week of January," the spokesperson stated. Now, the new owner still needs to be registered in the land registry. "The land registry office has a statutory deadline of about thirty days to process the application," she added.

The land that UK is set to take over is larger than two hectares and includes an adjacent grove in addition to the villas. The school plans to build facilities for the medical faculties and the Faculty of Humanities. "We are planning to create additional spaces for teaching, accommodation, sports, and relaxation," said the rector of Charles University, Tomáš Zima. The school aims to increase the capacity of the nearby dormitory by another 500 to 700 beds, as well as develop a geopark, a nature trail, and new sports facilities for tennis and volleyball. The entire complex will be associated with the 17th November dormitory, which is located near the abandoned villas.

Villa Milada was abandoned in 1988, and a decade later, squatters moved in. The police and the building administrator tried several times to evict the occupants, with a major operation taking place in October 1998 when demonstrations in support of the squatters occurred in the city center. At the end of June 2009, the building administrator had the villa cleared. Between late June and early July 2012, squatters remembered the three-year anniversary of its eviction by occupying the house again, and the police intervened against them. The squatters challenged the police's actions in court, but the court sided with the police.

The condition of both buildings is very poor, and only basic securing work has been carried out. "The construction office of Prague 8 is aware of the condition of the buildings since a 2009 inspection was carried out, during which it was found that measures had been taken to secure the building by bricking up openings," said Martin Šálek, spokesperson for the City District of Prague 8. The university does not yet know whether it will demolish or reconstruct the Libeň villas. "We will decide based on a detailed construction-historical survey and field investigation of the buildings," Zima stated.

The university has attempted several times to acquire the former squat. It came closest in 2010 when the then-owner, the state Institute for Information in Education, prepared a donation agreement in favor of the school. However, the Ministry of Finance refused to sign the agreement due to a lack of documentation confirming the public interest in the gratuitous transfer.