Ostrava will buy a complex of houses near the historic slaughterhouse

Ostrava - The city councilors of Ostrava today decided to purchase a group of properties in close proximity to the historic building of the former slaughterhouse, which the city acquired last year. The extensive complex will ultimately be bought for just under 38 million crowns, said Mayor Tomáš Macura (ANO) to reporters today.

"We are talking about a set of six interconnected buildings, one of which is directly adjacent to the historical slaughterhouse building. These are buildings that are mostly in poor condition, and if we have any ambition to do something with the historical building of the slaughterhouse, it would be very aesthetically unpleasing for a building of three orders of lower quality to be adjacent to it," the mayor stated.

As another reason for the purchase of the property, he pointed out that the owners of the properties automatically become participants in the proceedings related to the renovation of the slaughterhouse, which entails certain risks. "We intend to turn that area into a cultural quarter of Ostrava. We have a new use or some sort of concept for the slaughterhouse property, particularly for supporting creative arts, various community and association activities, and so on," Macura said.

He noted that the city had repeatedly negotiated with the property owners. Initially, it had planned to acquire the properties several months ago. However, the material was ultimately withdrawn from the council's discussion mainly due to the differing valuations of the properties in the expert assessments. The latest assessment ultimately valued the properties at around 30.5 million crowns.

"I think we've now reached a sum that is acceptable. There have been several historical expert assessments, all with their pros and cons. The last offer price from the property owners is just under 38 million crowns, which means there is a difference of just over 20 percent compared to the expert assessment," Macura stated.

He believes that this difference is acceptable because the expert assessment cannot take into account the potential for future development of the area. Initially, the owners demanded around 50 million crowns.

The city announced an architectural competition for the transformation of the slaughterhouse, in which eight offices from four countries participated. The winner was the Petr Hájek Architects studio from Prague. According to the mayor, it is not excluded that this studio could also be approached for the potential renovation of the properties currently being purchased.