If Prague buys the main building in Jindřišská Street from the Czech Post, one of the options is that it could be used to house municipal officials in the future. It is not clear whether this will happen, but the city must first know the terms of the purchase, according to city councillor Adam Zábranský (Piráti). The city management has already started negotiations with the post office, which plans to sell the building to save money. On behalf of the post office, the negotiations with Prague still have to be approved by the supervisory board of the state-owned company.
The Czech Post has decided to close 300 branches across the country this year due to the poor economic situation, 35 out of 106 post offices in the capital will be closed from July. In a search for savings, the company’s management has said in the past that it wants to sell a larger part of the building in the centre of Prague and build a new headquarters in Vysočany. The possibility of the sale was supported by Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) on Monday.
“We are entering into negotiations with the Czech Post regarding the potential purchase of their current headquarters in Jindřišská Street because we consider it interesting in terms of its use for the needs of the office. Negotiations are at the beginning. In order to make a future decision, we need to know from the post office what the terms of the purchase would be,” Zábranský said.
It has not yet been decided how the city would use the building in case of purchase. One option, however, is that officials from the Škoda Palace could move there. The municipality’s lease with the owner, the investment company GLL, expires in 2028. A large part of them are in the Škodovo Palace in Jungmannova Street.
Prague’s administration under former mayor Pavel Bem (ODS) moved the officials to Jungmannova Street. The situation around the lease was subsequently resolved by Prague for several years and it unsuccessfully sued the original owner, Copa retail, over the rent. The former management of the municipality, headed by Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO), managed to agree on a modification of the lease agreement. Originally, the 20-year lease was to cost the city CZK 4.4 billion, but in the end it will pay CZK 860 million less. In 2017, the palace was bought by GLL Real Estate Partners, an investment company based in Munich.
The large Neo-Renaissance building of the Czech Post Office in Jindřišská Street was built between 1871 and 1874 and subsequently expanded. In 1998 it was declared a cultural monument. The Czech Post has been housed in the building since 1873 and its headquarters are located in a side wing with an entrance from Politických vězňů Street.
