At 10:00 a.m. today, the electronic auction of the former Skloexport building in Liberec, which has not been used for years, started. The minimum price was set by the Office for State Representation in Property Matters (ÚZSVM) at CZK 79,070,900. At least one bidder has registered for the auction and deposited the eight-million-dollar principal by midnight on Monday, according to Michaela Tesařová, a spokeswoman for the office. Both the Liberec Region and the City of Liberec have previously said they will not take part in the auction, which ends at 10:00 on Wednesday.
“If the required deposit is not paid, the electronic auction is automatically cancelled. In the case of this exceptional property in Liberec, the auction has not been cancelled because at least one bidder has paid the CZK 8 million deposit by the deadline. In order for the auction to produce a winner, it is necessary for bidders to make at least one bid, the first bid must be at least equal to the minimum announced price, and the subsequent bids must increase the amount by at least CZK 50,000,” added Tesarova.
The seven-storey building of Skloexport was built according to the project of the architect František Vahala at the corner of Žitavská and 1. máje Streets between 1928 and 1930 for the tax and customs administration. The world-famous exporter of Czech glass acquired the building during the communist regime and the company went bankrupt in the second half of the 1990s. The state took over the building in 2001 and the last tenants left the premises eight years later. All attempts to sell the 9357 sqm complex ended in failure.
For years, the building belonged to the General Directorate of Finance. It first offered the building in August 2008, when a forensic expert set the minimum price at CZK 84.6 million, but no bidder was found. It was not possible to sell the premises in the following years either, when the price was gradually reduced to CZK 45 million. In May 2020, the ÚZSVM took over the building, but according to Tesarová, no state institution has shown interest in the building, so the authority is looking for a new owner through a transparent electronic auction.
In the past, the city of Liberec was interested in the building and wanted to acquire it for free, but it did not reach an agreement with the state. At the beginning of this year, the authority offered the building to the city for CZK 67 million, but the councillors thought the price was too high; the building is estimated to need reconstruction for more than half a billion, so they refused the purchase. The Liberec Region wanted to take over the building in the spring and adapt it to accommodate up to 500 refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, but no agreement was reached and the region’s leadership abandoned the plan. The state should not sell the building, but use it for its offices, according to Mayor Martin Půta (Mayors for the Liberec Region).
Source: CTK
