The Czech Post has yesterday cancelled the electronic auction of three properties in Prague 4 from last week without giving any reasons. In total, the winner was to receive almost CZK 400 million for them, announced Czech Post spokesman Matyáš Vitík. The Prague City Council has expressed interest in the properties and announced on Monday that it will seek to cancel the auction. City councillor Adam Zábranský (Piráti) said he welcomed the decision and wanted to negotiate with the post office to buy the buildings. He has no information about the reason for the cancellation of the auction. According to him, Prague offered the post office a higher price for the properties than the one they were bidding for.
According to Vitík, the terms of the auction allow it to be cancelled until the purchase contract is signed with the winner who offered the highest price for each property. “The winner will therefore not be asked to pay the purchase price and the purchase contract will not be signed with him,” said Vitík. He added that the participants in the auction had no objections to this condition.
According to the spokesman, the Post Office is now evaluating alternatives on how to further dispose of the real estate in Prague 4 so that it can use the proceeds from the eventual sale this year. The building in Na Strži Street had the highest asking price, over CZK 310 million. The auction also included a built-up plot of land with garages with an area of 849 sqm and a starting price of over CZK 31 million. The third property on offer was a plot of land with an area of 88 square metres, for which the post office was asking at least CZK 400,000.
The post office has previously said that it intends to offer also the building of the main post office in Jindřišská Street in the centre of the capital at the auction. The Prague City Hall has also expressed interest in the property.
Zábranský said that he learned about the cancellation of the auction from the media and has no information about the reason that led the post office to cancel the auction. “We cannot deduce whether the post office made this decision on the basis of our letter to the director of the Czech Post and the Interior Ministry, which went out this week. We will continue to discuss this matter intensively. This is similar to the case of other Czech Post properties in Jindřišská Street or Moravská Street in Prague 2,” he said. He said that in the letter, the city had offered a higher price for the properties than the one they were tendered for.
Source: Czech Post and CTK
