The old Tesco from the center of Liberec will disappear in two years

Liberec - The old building of the Tesco department store in Liberec will disappear in two years. The owners have obtained permission to demolish the building, which was designed by the famous Liberec architect, the creator of Ještěd, Karel Hubáček. The company Multi Development already has a demolition order and zoning decision for the area. Demolition is expected to begin in the summer of 2008, according to today's Liberec supplement of Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD).
Investors only need to obtain a building permit. "We are working on the project and documentation for the permit," said Radim Kousal from Sia Design, the company preparing the construction. The largest project for a shopping center in Liberec has encountered some delays due to last year's efforts by conservationists to stop the possible demolition of the department store by listing it as a cultural monument. The effort was unsuccessful, so construction on the new hypermarket should begin next spring.
The new hypermarket will be built closer to the city transport terminal on the site of the current parking lot. Once completed, likely in the summer of two years from now, the current Tesco department store will relocate there. The old building will then be demolished, and a shopping gallery, cafes, restaurants, and a multiplex cinema will be built in its place. The entire complex, which is estimated to cost up to two billion crowns, is expected to be completed by 2009.
Other large shopping centers are also in the works in Liberec, but none have all the necessary permits yet. The company ING Real Estate is soon expecting to expand the Nisa shopping center, and others are planned to be built at Šaldovo náměstí and on the land where Textilana stood just a few years ago.
Multi Development is engaged in the construction of urban, commercial, and administrative centers throughout Europe. In the Czech Republic, it has completed projects such as the Olympia commercial and entertainment centers in Plzeň and Olomouc or the Chodov Center in Prague. It has now won a competition for the development of the Ostrava Karolina area.