The fourth attempt to sell Prague’s Broadway Palace in an electronic auction begins today at noon. The Office for State Representation in Property Matters (ÚZSVM) has announced a starting price of CZK 990 million, the minimum bid is CZK 200,000. The auction will last until 12:00 on Friday.
The functionalist building by the architects Bohumír Kozák and Antonín Černý from the 1930s is located between Celetná and Na Příkopě streets near náměstí Republiky. The office unsuccessfully tried to sell it at auction three times, in August last year, March last year and September 2021.
The last auction of the Broadway Palace took place last August with a starting price of CZK 1.05 billion, but no one bid even the minimum bid of CZK 200,000. After the unsuccessful auction, ÚZSVM offered to sell the palace at the asking price to the current tenant, which is the company M.I.C.C. Prague, owned by the investment and development company AFI Europe. The right of first refusal stems from a contract that ÚZSVM took over in 2016 from the former SŽDC, now the Railway Administration. However, the tenant did not exercise its right within three months, so the building is going to auction again.
The building consists of three interconnected tracts. It is one of the largest functionalist new buildings in the historic centre of Prague. At first it served the needs of Italian insurance companies and part of the complex contained apartments. After 1980 the building was adapted for administrative purposes. In 1938, a cinema was opened in the basement of the building with the most modern projection and sound equipment of the time. Today the premises of the functionalist palace are used by the Broadway Theatre.
In accordance with the law, after taking over the building, the Ministry of the Interior offered it first to other state institutions. However, none of them showed interest in it. Therefore, the authority is looking for a new owner through an electronic auction.
So far, the highest amount of CZK 790 million has been raised by the state from the sale of the premises on náměstí Republiky in Prague and the sale of the Prague complex U Půjčovny, which sold for CZK 355.1 million after 100 bids.
Source: CTK
