Mucha in the shopping mall, and Prague will pay almost half a billion to the developer. Signed: Zdeněk Hřib. But now the action has a big problem
“I went to the municipality with the slogan: ‘I want to run a city with a clean slate.’ This was written by Mayor Zdeněk Hřib on his Facebook page on Wednesday at 11.46, just as the police from NC were carrying out a raid on the office of his deputy Petr Hlubuček.
He was subsequently charged by the police. Together with the businessman Michal Redl, in the past associated with the fugitive convict Radovan Krejčíř. According to the List News website, Redl is prosecuted in his cases he avoided it only by having a medical certificate of a serious mental disorder.
The said “Míša”, who was supposed to have ties to the STAN policy for a long time, was a very well-known figure according to the List at Hřibov City Hall. When information about his contacts in Hlubučko came to the public, representatives of the coalition began to arguewho “brought” him.
The reputation of sweepers of old corrupt structures, which the Pirates’ coalition coalition, the PRAGUE movement itself and the United Forces candidate for Prague have been building for a long time, thus shook to its foundations.
It turns out that the current leadership of the metropolis also has very problematic affairs.
One and a half million every month. Twenty-five years
ParlamentníListy.cz has already pointed out in the past, for example, the Savarin case, in which the current capital of the capital used to conclude an agreement according to which 25 years (with the possibility of extension to another five) would pay 1.5 million crowns to Crestyl, a controversial developer. with an unclear ownership structure leading to Cyprus (in the negotiations on Savarin, it appears hidden behind the WELWYN COMPANY as brand).
In addition, this payment would be associated with considerable artistic damage and great disgrace, probably even internationally. It concerns the Slavic Epic, a world-renowned art ensemble by Alfons Muchy, which is visited by fans of fine arts from all over the world.
In short, the capital (represented by Culture Councilor Hana Třeštíková) concludes an agreement to exhibit the Slavic Epic in a very strange basement environment of the Savarin shopping center, under conditions that are extremely favorable for developers.
Savarin is a large development project of a palace with shops and restaurants, built by Crestyl on a large area near Wenceslas Square. The basis of the project, which is to be one of the largest development sites in the center of Prague, is the listed Baroque Sylva-Taroucca Palace (also known as the Nostic Palace, a cultural monument in Na Příkopě Street).
The exposition of the Slavic Epic is also to be a part of the project. But the placement of the work in many horrors. Extensive canvases, which are best evidenced by the open space with plenty of natural light, which is located underground. In places where the developer originally intended to place large-capacity garages, but conservationists did not allow him to build an access ramp from Wenceslas Square.
The agreement has other strange aspects. For example, the developer should be part of an advisory artistic body that will decide on the operation of the epic (ie, where it will be lent). This is a highly above-standard right for a developer who builds premises and draws rent from them.
Councilor Hana Třeštíková, however, claims that placing Mucha’s work in Savarin and an agreement with Crestyl is the only possible solution.
Councilor Třeštíková’s supportive attitude is based primarily on a concluded agreement with Mr. John Mucha, the heir of the Muchov brands.
The agreement is questioned by Mucha’s second heiress, Mrs. Jarmila Mucha Plocková. “To my dismay, under this agreement, the city got rid of deciding on the epic, its property, and submits to the interests of John Mucha, under conditions not only for the city financially loss-making, but also for the work of the unworthy,” she recently told Lidové noviny. that she herself would have been ashamed to place her grandfather’s work “somewhere in the garages.”
Ms. Mucha Plocková also pointed out the connection between John Mucha (a former successful London banker also used to act under the name John Omond or John Omond Mucha in the past) with the development company Crestyl and a number of provisions that will very unpleasantly surprise the Prague taxpayer.
The amount of “rent” is defined in euros per square meter, the real amount in crowns is 1.5 million per month. In addition, the rent is referred to as “initial”. The term of the contract is 25 years, with an option for another five. Even with a length of 25 years at a price of 1.5 million crowns a month, we are talking about 450 million crowns paid to the developer from the capital.
Councilor Hana Třeštíková argues that Prague will have an income from the entrance fee. According to the agreement, the reality is that the proceeds from the entrance fee should go to Prague and the Mucha Foundation (represented by John Mucha), but the developer will first deduct his costs and a “reasonable reward” from him.
According to Třeštíková, the main reason is the fact that this solution is a condition for the withdrawal of the lawsuit over the ownership of the epic, which John Mucha has been conducting against Prague since 2016.
According to the law with the case, the Parliamentary Letters. However, they bypassed any acquaintance, but it is very problematic, three courts rejected Mucha’s claims, the verdict for many of his other requests partially complied with. But before negotiations could take place (in December last year), both parties have asked for it to be postponed, trying to negotiate a settlement.
there was an agreement to place the epic on the premises of Savarin.
Damage, as if a subway had been built
At the same time, its construction is considerably complicated. The project does not yet have a building permit, and the Ministry of Culture has entered the construction procedure very forcefully, raising a number of objections to what the shopping center in the Baroque palace in the monument zone should look like.
According to the ministry, the megalomaniac project, which is to build a shopping and office center larger than the nearby Paladium (among other things with four floors in the underground) between Wenceslas Square, Na Příkopech Boulevard and Jindřiška Street, is very dubious.
For example, the earthworks planned by the developer at Wenceslas Square would be comparable to the intervention in the historic center caused by the construction of the metro. But without all the public benefit that would consider these damages.
“The intention is unacceptable in the proposed volume of constructions and interventions in the material nature of immovable cultural monuments,” the ministry summarizes the thirteen-page overwhelming opinion issued in March this year.
The building permit is therefore out of sight. Even the developer’s optimistic assumptions envisage implementation by the end of 2025.
So the question is whether and when Mrs Třeštíková’s “only solution” will be available at all.
Nevertheless, the current city management signed an agreement in February entitled “Basic Terms of the Lease Agreement”, which is to govern the subsequent final agreement. Although the text states that it only “outlines the main principles and conditions for cooperation”, it nevertheless contains a number of very specific provisions and obligations.
The contract is personally signed by the mayor Zdeněk Hřib, who otherwise speaks very negatively about the developers. His video with Councilor Hlaváček (a colleague of the arrested Deputy Hlubuček) is famous, where at the Žižkov Freight Station, where the construction of a new residential area is underway, he beats how “the developer is building and wants to make money on it,” Zdeněk Hřib personally gets angry at the camera. . . And according to him, these entrepreneurs prefer to pass on the costs to the city.
Therefore, when Hlaváček describes how he came up with new stricter rules for developers, which force them to return profits to the territory in which they earn, I appreciate her “I’m already looking forward to it, thanks for your work, Petra”.
Who can look forward to Savarin, whether the citizens of Prague, or who “builds and wants to earn”, is unfortunately becoming clearer.
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author: Jakub Vosáhlo