Young Boleslav will buy a dilapidated historic water tower for two million crowns

Mladá Boleslav - Mladá Boleslav will buy a dilapidated historical water tower from a private owner located on Vodkova Street. In the future, it could be renovated using grants and saved from further degradation. The council was supposed to decide on the purchase of the heritage-protected tower for 3.4 million crowns in the spring, but the item was withdrawn from the March meeting agenda. Today, the council approved the purchase of the tower for two million crowns.

"By purchasing this historic building, the city would increase the likelihood that it would repair the tower, which seems less realistic given the current owners' situation. The tower is one of the landmarks when viewing the historical center of the city from the west," stated the city hall in the proposal for today’s council meeting.

The city sold the tower in 2001 to a private owner, who later sold it to Comenius Private Invest. In 2019, the city began striving for a buyback. The original price of 4.2 million crowns was negotiated down to 3.9 million crowns, later to 3.4 million crowns. In August, the city council decided that the tower would be purchased for two million crowns, and the owner agreed to the price. According to an appraisal conducted by the city last fall, the value is 780,000 crowns. The city may later finance the reconstruction of the building through the Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI) program in Mladá Boleslav.

The water tower is the oldest stone water tower designed by Pavel Ignác Bayer. The original stone tower from the mid-16th century collapsed in 1721. The current tower has the shape of a truncated cone and five levels, two of which are underground. During the renovation in 1874, among other things, the old reservoir was replaced with a pressure vessel, from which a steam engine pumped water. The new water supply was launched in 1874.