The contract for the lease of the main railway station ends at midnight for the Italians, and SŽDC has strengthened the protection of the railway station
Representatives of the Grand Stazioni did not come today to hand over the imaginary keys from the parties to the stations, although the contract between the two will expire at midnight today, according to SŽDC. The Italians did not meet the contractual deadline for the completion of the repair of the station, they failed on the historic Fant’s building. The railway administration then did not hear her requests for a two-year postponement and said goodbye to the company.
That is why a notary, who was brought by SŽDC, held office at the main railway station today. The state organization is also preparing an assessment of the building’s condition with the help of forensic experts. “The building must be documented in detail,” Drmola added. At the same time, he invited a representative of Grandi Stazioni to a meeting at the station tomorrow morning at seven.
Next week, SŽDC wants to conclude contracts with all tenants of the station, a total of 50. At the same time, it continues to cooperate with the hired administrator of the building, the company ISS, which takes care of, for example, energy supplies and the operation of escalators. The Italian company’s lease agreement will expire at midnight.
Grandi Stazioni stated a compensation that if SŽDC terminates the company from the building, it will be required to roughly one billion crowns as compensation for the reconstruction of the check-in hall and also for the lost profit from the next 30 years of operation of the station.
According to SŽDC, the contract with Grandi Stazioni should be automatically extended by exactly 30 years if the company manages to reconstruct the station, including the historic Fanta building, by midnight today. However, in 13 years the company reconstructed only the interior of the central part with the so-called Fanta Café. The side tracts, including the façade of the listed Art Nouveau building, are still awaiting repair.
Until June this year, the Grandi Stazioni were mostly owned by Italian railways. The new company is owned by the French investment fund Antin and the Italian investor group Borletti Group. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) holds a minority stake. The year before, the Czech branch of Grandi Stazioni had a profit of 54 million crowns with revenues exceeding 144 million crowns.