New Cultural House Repre in Most: Demolition instead of renovation

Photo: mesto-most.cz

Most - The Cultural House Repre in Most is not awaiting reconstruction, but demolition. A new rectangular building with two to three floors and an underground parking lot for nearly 500 cars will be built in its place. This follows from materials submitted by the company CT Crestyl, which purchased the Cultural House Repre from the city in 2010 for 28 million crowns, for environmental impact assessment EIA. The same company built the Central department store near Repre, which began operations in May 2008, and also owns the nearby hotel.
The Cultural House Repre is located in the center of Most on the main Boulevard Budovatelů, right next to the town hall. "The city had two conditions: a cinema must operate there and the planetarium must be preserved, not necessarily in its current form," said the city spokesperson Alena Sedláčková to ČTK. The rectangular new building covering more than 18,700 square meters will meet these conditions; besides a cinema and planetarium, the investor also plans over 50,000 square meters of retail space and approximately 780 square meters of restaurants. In the future, another building with a multifunctional community hall is to connect to the object.
The investor plans to start construction in the fourth quarter of next year, but demolition of the existing Repre building will precede this. As the first step, the usable furnishings from II. náměstí, including the statue of Saint Prokop, will be moved; some trees will also be transplanted. According to the documentation, it should be completed by the third quarter of 2015. According to data from 2010, CT Crestyl intended to invest about one billion crowns.
The current Repre, formerly the Regional House of Culture for Miners and Energy Workers in Most, was built as a replacement for the previously demolished Repre building in old Most. At that time, like most buildings in the original development, it fell victim to surface mining of brown coal. The building permit was issued in 1972, but the construction was only completed in 1984. The building is very intricate, with some of its above-ground parts supported by concrete columns, and a sphere protrudes from the roof, which houses the currently non-functional planetarium. The building is surrounded by a shallow pond.
"The building, along with its surroundings, is currently deteriorating and needs repairs. Given the materials used and the layout, it is clear that it is also a building that is very energy-intensive," states the documentation from AMEC s. r. o., which prepared it for CT Crestyl. Additionally, the object does not meet current requirements according to them. "According to various sources, renovations and repairs of the building and its surroundings would require costs in the hundreds of millions of crowns," the investor notes in the documentation.
The representatives of Most approved the intention to sell Repre in June 2010, all present agreed to the sale except for one. The company then committed to the city that it would renovate the building, which is in poor condition. The mayor's deputy Hana Jeníčková said that the city is selling the cultural house because "it is not strong enough to move the building forward."
According to Mayor Vlastimil Vozka, the city originally considered repairing the cultural house with European subsidies. However, Most did not succeed with its integrated city development plan at the Regional Council of Northwest Region, and therefore had to look for other options since the renovation is very expensive. They also considered the participation of a strategic partner in the form of a PPP project, but ultimately decided on selling. Another investor was also interested in the cultural house. However, since they promised an investment of 14 million crowns, which the councilors deemed a very small amount, they preferred the second interested party.
In the city center, CT Crestyl has already built the Central commercial complex, which began operations in May 2008. The complex with 82 retail units, including a restaurant and five fast-food stalls, also includes 101 apartments and an underground garage with 350 parking spaces. The construction costs of the complex reached 1.1 billion crowns. The company also owns the Cascade hotel in the center of Most, which stands right next to Repre.