Prague 1 will sell a plot of land under the house on the corner of Králodvorská Street and Republic Square for CZK 108.7 million. The decision was made Tuesday by the representatives of the city district. So far, the owner of the house has paid the rent to the town hall for the use of the land, according to the management of Prague 1, it is more advantageous to sell it and invest the money obtained in the development of the housing stock. Opposition representatives who criticized the sale did not agree.
The house is currently dilapidated and according to an earlier statement by Mayor Petr Hejma (STAN), the owner has a building permit for its reconstruction. According to information from the town hall, the owner now pays the city district a rent of CZK 750,000 a year, and the town hall would receive the proposed purchase price for the rent in 140 years. The Prague City Council has already agreed to the sale, which must approve all sales of city property worth over CZK 50 million.
Tuesday, the deputies approved a price 2.5 million higher than originally proposed. Part of the adopted resolution is that the town hall will use the money obtained to repair and build rental apartments that will not be intended for privatization. The mayor also said that the town hall management considered the offer advantageous and that the previous owners of the house did not want to buy the land even at a significantly higher price. The current one is based on an expert opinion from June this year.
The opinion was criticized by the leader of the opposition Prague 1, Pavel Čižinský, according to whom he is half a year old and insufficient given the growth rate of real estate prices in the metropolis. Referring to the Hypoteční banka index, he stated that land prices in Prague had risen by 21.9 percent in the last year and by 5.1 percent in the third quarter of this year. “In light of this information, the report, which appreciated it on June 7, 2021, cannot succeed,” he said. In this context, he unsuccessfully suggested that the town hall obtain a new report from another expert.
Čižinský also said that it is advantageous for the town hall to have property stored in land that is being valued. “Getting over a hundred million is tempting, but it would only make sense if we needed the money for something,” he said. Hejma said that it is not advantageous to have unusable land, but on the contrary, from a financial point of view, it is appropriate to obtain money for it that can be used to enhance other assets, which, according to him, the town hall management plans to do.
Source: CTK
