The Archdiocese of Prague plans to sell the Jindřišská Tower to Prague for 100 million CZK

Prague - The Prague Archbishopric received permission from the Vatican to sell the medieval Jindřišská Tower in Prague to the capital city. Prague Archbishop Jan Graubner told reporters today. He stated that the archbishopric intends to sell the tower to Prague for 100 million crowns. According to him, they are waiting for further negotiations with the Prague council to see if the sale will be approved. Prague councilor Adam Zábranský (Pirates) subsequently informed ČTK that the capital city is currently awaiting an expert assessment of the price of the Jindřišská Tower and will only then decide on a possible purchase. Prague has never made a binding offer to buy the Jindřišská Tower for 100 million crowns, he added. According to Graubner, the archbishopric has also decided to sell the Clara Futura hotel in Dolní Břežany for 308 million crowns.

The money that the archbishopric is expected to gain from these sales is to be directed towards church education. The archbishopric primarily plans the reconstruction of the Archbishop's Grammar School for 150 million crowns and the construction of a speech therapy school in Klecany, with estimated costs of 400 million crowns.

The archbishopric offered the Jindřišská Tower in the city center for sale at the end of last year; it claims the tower has no significance for the faithful, being primarily a tourist attraction. The sale is part of the church's effort to streamline its finances in light of the time when it will stop receiving state funding for its activities. The archbishopric originally offered the tower for sale for 75 million crowns. There were many interested parties; the archbishopric evaluated Prague's offer as the best. The price offered by the capital city was one of the highest, said Jan Balík, the general vicar of the Prague archbishopric, to ČTK today.

According to earlier statements from the archbishopric, the tower requires an investment of about 20 to 30 million crowns in repairs. A long-term tenant has enhanced the building; two decades ago, an internal space was constructed in the tower, on which the individual floors are placed. The monument has long been leased to the Jindřišská věž company. The lease agreement from 2000 was concluded for a fixed term until the end of 2044.

Information that emerged in the media today was labeled by Prague councilor Zábranský as fabrications. According to him, there was never a hundred-million offer. "The city company Trade Centre Prague (TCP) has not yet provided us with the customary price assessment, which should be ready by the end of September, so we have not submitted any binding offer to the archbishopric," Zábranský stated today. According to him, the assessment was originally supposed to be ready by now; unfortunately, TCP was unable to obtain all relevant information about the construction within the Jindřišská Tower. "Therefore, I expect that the expert assessment will include a note from the expert indicating that they were unable to evaluate the impact of the technical parameters of the construction on the customary price," said the councilor.

Once the assessment is complete, it will be discussed by the municipal coalition, which will decide whether the city wants to offer the archbishopric to buy the tower at the price determined by the expert. "If we decide to go ahead, it will then depend on the archbishopric whether they accept the offer. If not, we will again need to discuss at the coalition level whether we want to purchase the property at a significantly higher price than the customary price. I cannot predict how our coalition discussions on this matter will turn out," Zábranský added.

The Clara Futura hotel in Dolní Břežany was created from the conversion of a castle, which was the property of the Prague archbishopric for nearly 300 years until nationalization. After restitution, the church received it back in poor condition and reconstructed it for 250 million crowns between 2015 and 2018. The operation of the hotel was unprofitable. According to information from today's press conference, the current tenant, the investment fund Investika, is buying the hotel from the archbishopric.

"It collaborates with the archdiocese on various projects and remained the only solid tenant in the building even during the difficult times of the COVID pandemic. The sale of the complex fulfills the provisions of the lease agreement, and the property will continue to serve as a boutique hotel of a similar type. Both parties have also agreed to continue the operation of the local chapel," stated the archbishopric.