Sokolov will demolish the remaining buildings of the former barracks

Sokolov - The city of Sokolov is planning to demolish the remaining houses from the former barracks near the Vítězná housing estate. The council has already approved the eviction of tenants who currently operate bazaars and pawnshops in the buildings. Through the demolition and modification of the site, the city wants to prevent further creation of illegal dumps and other unpleasant phenomena around the remote, unsightly houses, said Sokolov mayor Jan Picka (ČSSD) to ČTK.

"Another reason is that the city owns land in this area, which it can offer as family-type housing in the future - this means that we are considering the construction of family houses there, and all of this is already preparation for planned construction. Between us, whatever happens there, a currently empty modified area will certainly be much more favorable than what is there now," said Picka.

Current tenants must vacate the houses by the end of the notice period, which is two months in one case and three months for the others. "We expect that they should not have any major problems with it. If no major complications arise that we are not aware of, the demolition itself should then be a matter of at most one month," the mayor added. The city preliminarily estimates the costs at one million crowns.

The cleared land could be offered for sale to a potential investor. This would allow one of the few remaining spaces for house construction in the city to be utilized. The possibilities for the city's development are quite limited in this regard; otherwise, family and row housing can be developed only on Hrušková and Novina. However, bringing engineering networks there means overcoming considerable distance and elevation.

In recent years, a new neighborhood of family homes and business incubators intended for smaller manufacturing companies has emerged in the area of the larger part of the former barracks around Husitská and Vítězná streets. Overall, the city has invested over 130 million crowns into the location with the help of subsidies, but the costs incurred have balanced out through the sale of the land.