Marshmallow changes owners, whether and when the house will be built is unclear

Prague - Italian developer Francesco Augusto Razetto is selling the company that owns the project to construct an apartment building in Prague 1, which people call the marshmallow. He stated this to ČTK today. He decided to do so after 18 years of preparing the construction at the Anežský monastery mainly due to bureaucrats and a system that, according to him, allows various civic initiatives to interfere with projects even outside of the administrative proceedings. Razetto has signed a purchase agreement with a Czech company, although he did not specify which one. According to him, the sale should be completed in a few months.

"I have signed a purchase agreement based on which I want to sell the company because my partners, unfortunately, are already of advanced age. One of them is over 85 years old, the other is almost 80, and when we embarked on this journey together 18 years ago, we thought the project would end much sooner. So they asked me to sell the company,” he said.

Razetto is the managing director of Praga Progetti e Investimenti, which owns the only project, the construction of an apartment building on U Milosrdných street. The company has no other projects, and there is no other company participating in this project in any way, he added.

"I am selling in its current state," Razetto responded to ČTK's inquiry about what stage the decisions and permits for the project are in. Czech Television reported at the beginning of March, citing the spokesperson for the Prague 1 district, that the construction has a valid building permit. The construction office issued the permit back in June 2015, but its validity was suspended as the construction was being examined by the Prague city hall and the Ministry of Culture.

However, the investor is expected to start the construction by June, as the two-year deadline is calculated from the initial decision. According to the spokesperson, it is expected that the investor will apply for an extension; the construction office is reportedly still addressing partial objections that do not affect the validity of the permit. According to ČTK's information, however, the building permit is not yet final. The current statements from both the spokesperson and the Prague 1 construction office are being verified by ČTK.

"As time goes by, I see that journalists are informed more than I am. Often, I learn new information a week after it has been published in the media. (...) I also have information that the permit is not final. I was surprised to see on television and the internet that I allegedly have a final building permit,” the investor said.

"I have lived in Prague for 27 years, I like it here and I work well here. Looking back, the only thing I regret is the land. We invested a lot of money, time, and energy into it; we had good intentions, we did it in good faith, we didn't corrupt anyone, we never played any strange games, there was always a transparent ownership structure... but maybe that is not interesting to anyone,” he said. He still plans to invest in real estate. "But with this project, I have a bit of bitterness left in my mouth," he concluded.

The building in the Old Town is nicknamed the marshmallow apparently due to the color of the façade that appeared in some visualizations. It was designed by architect Zdeněk Fránek, who never counted on a pink façade. In the past, hundreds of people gathered in the city center to protest against the construction, as is often the case with most proposed new buildings in historical environments.

The project has changed several times. The original design from 2008, which included a glass façade, was rejected by the Ministry of Culture based on the opinion of the National Heritage Institute, and in 2010, the permission of Prague’s heritage officials was revoked. The new project with windows shaped like faces was approved by both the NPÚ and the municipal heritage officials. The current proceeding at the construction office continued after the Prague city hall’s reaffirmative position. The position was issued by Prague last December. According to the then statement from the heritage officials, the apartment building is acceptable from the perspective of heritage preservation and is not a disturbing element.