The University of West Bohemia in Plzeň (ZČU) will sell the large building of the former general headquarters of the Plzeň-based Škoda in Tylova Street near the city centre. The former management of the university bought the building to move two faculties into it. The building has been empty since 2017 and the university maintains it, this is according to the new rector, Miroslav Lávička
“We do not use the building. At the moment, it is the best and probably the only possible solution for us to sell it in time,” he said. According to the rector, the formal and technical parameters of the sale are still being finalised.
The previous management of ZČU bought the building in 2010, when the price was said to be CZK 200 million. Until 2017 it housed the Faculty of Health Studies, which then moved to the building at 11 Husova Street, already abandoned by the Faculty of Economics. The then management of ZČU had a redevelopment project, but the Ministry of Education considered it oversized because it was built at a time when ZČU had significantly more students.
The building was offered for sale last August by the previous management of ZČU, but the sale was put on hold, according to the rector. “There was a formal problem, but only an administrative one. Now we want to ensure that the buyer does not have to deal with things that we should have dealt with for him,” Lávička said.
When the sale was announced last year, ZČU expected that it could collect around CZK 160 million. Lávička said that the school will probably not get the same amount from the sale as it bought the building for, but wants to sell it as cheaply as possible. If all the preparations go according to ZČU’s wishes and there are no technical or formal difficulties, the intention to sell will be announced by the middle of the year.
The building has four above-ground and two underground floors. Since it is on the edge of the industrial area, it could be used for light production, as warehouses or even for multifunctional use, according to real estate brokers.
ZČU wants to focus its buildings on the axis of tram line number 4, which runs from the Zelený trojúhelník campus in Borey, home to three technical faculties, the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Design and Art, through Klatovská and Tylova streets to the buildings in the centre. The Rector now sees the reconstruction of two buildings on Chodské náměstí, where the Faculty of Education is located, as a priority action.
Source: ZČU and CTK
