The auction of the closed branch of the Czech Post in Liberec – Vesec did not take place today. No one came forward, announced Czech Post spokesman Ivo Vysoudil. The Post Office has already announced another round, the electronic auction will take place again on Tuesday, 20 February, the price has not changed, it will start at CZK 8.7 million. Those interested in joining the auction can apply until 12 February. The house in Vesec in Liberec is the first of 13 closed branches in the Liberec region that the Czech Post has offered at auction.
The house is located on the main road next to the primary school near the bus stop. On the plot with a total area of 524 sqm there is a small garden. In addition to the now empty post office premises, there are two rented apartments 1+1 and 3+1 on the first floor. The building is approximately 125 years old, has a basement and an attic. According to the expert, the building is well preserved. “The starting price was determined on the basis of an expert opinion,” Vysoudil said.
Although the Liberec City Council decided that the city would seek the buildings of the closed branches in Vesec and also in Švermova Street in Františkov and at Vápenka, it did not join the auction. “In our judgement, it is expensive,” Deputy Mayor Adam Lenert (ANO) told the Czech News Agency earlier, saying the corresponding price would be a third to a half lower. For comparison, he said the town hall gave CZK 12.5 million to a private owner for a residential building with six flats in Na Žižkov Street last autumn, making the Vesec branch disproportionately expensive from the town hall’s perspective.
Since July last year, the Czech Post has closed almost 300 branches in the country due to austerity measures, leaving 2,900 and laying off about 1,500 people. The post office argued that interest in traditional postal services was declining and wanted to mitigate its losses by reducing the number of branches and laying off some staff. In the Liberec region, 13 branches closed at the beginning of the holiday season, most of them in the regional capital, where the post office closed six, including the second largest in the Globus shopping centre. Three post offices were lost in Česká Lípa, two in Jablonec nad Nisou and one each in Turnov and Rokytnice nad Jizerou.
Source: Czech Post and CTK
