Prague is negotiating the exchange of the Vyšehrad railway station for lots for family houses

Prague – The leadership of Prague is negotiating with the owner of the deteriorating Vyšehrad train station about the possibility of exchanging the heritage-protected building for city-owned land in Dolní Počernice designated for the construction of family houses. Jan Chabr (TOP 09), the city's councillor for property, said this to ČTK today after a meeting with the owner's lawyers. The situation could be complicated by the fact that the station will be owned by MIQUELIRA LIMITED, a company registered in Cyprus, instead of the current Czech company RailCity Vyšehrad. According to Chabr, negotiations about the exchange are still expected to continue.

The building, which was declared a cultural monument in 2000, has been in private hands since 2007. Investors previously planned to convert the building, but the project was abandoned due to difficulties in getting approval from heritage authorities. The building has thus been deteriorating for a long time. The city has fined the owner multiple times and has initiated the first steps for possible expropriation, which is allowed under heritage law. At the same time, the municipality is negotiating with the owners about the possible exchange of the property for city parcels.

According to Chabr, the plots in Dolní Počernice were proposed by the owner's legal representatives, with whom the city is communicating. The final owner is not known. The councillor clarified today that there is a zoning study for the relevant plots, according to which family or smaller row houses are to be built there. The local council of Dolní Počernice has also been involved in the negotiations and wants to know exactly what the investor would build there, and also demands guarantees that the plots will not be used only for speculation.

Chabr stated after today's meeting that negotiations will likely continue despite the change of ownership. "The legal representatives of Rail City Vyšehrad confirmed that the transfer to the Cypriot entity is ongoing. It can also be assumed that the new owner will be interested in continuing negotiations about the exchange," he said. He added that from his perspective, everything seems to be just a formal transfer after which the actual owner remains the same, and it cannot be assumed that there would be any change in the approach to the maintenance of the monument.

From the city's perspective, the transfer to the Cypriot company could complicate the situation, according to Chabr. "Honestly – I pray that this does not mean an attempt to transfer the property to an entity that will not care about the future of the station and will let it continue to deteriorate to the point of collapse," he stated. He added that the change of ownership would complicate the enforcement of the owner's obligations and penalties and possible expropriation, as it is conditioned by long-term neglect of maintenance, which is, however, excluded with a formally new owner. Communication and delivery of documents with the Cypriot company may also be problematic.

The train station building was constructed between 1904 and 1905, and train operations were halted around 1960. Now, restoring its original function is not possible because modern standards do not allow a station to be located in a curve. Instead, the city plans to have a train stop at Výtoň.