Agrostav will not convert the former administrative building Perla in Ústí n.O. into apartments

Ústí nad Orlicí - The company Agrostav has withdrawn from its plan to convert the former administrative building Perla 01 in Ústí nad Orlicí into apartments and commercial spaces. In 2021, it signed a future purchase agreement for the building with the city, based on a tender, for 6.2 million crowns, but after evaluating all circumstances, it found that the investment would not be profitable. It would only make sense if the original building were demolished and a completely new one built, said Mayor Petr Hájek (Oušťáci association) to ČTK.

"The contract included milestones by which project documentation and building permits were to be submitted for the contract to become a purchase contract and for it to be registered in the land registry. Unfortunately, Agrostav did not meet this milestone, justifying it by stating that the economic analysis showed that the plan to construct 31 housing units plus commercial spaces as part of the reconstruction was not economically viable, and it would only be viable if the building were completely or partially demolished. However, the regulatory plan does not allow for that, which is why they withdrew from the plan," said Hájek.

According to him, the company still has an interest in the land with the building. It would revise the project, but the regulatory plan would need to be changed to allow for the demolition of the building. Currently, the future purchase agreement has been terminated. "We are back at square one and we must decide in the council whether we will change the regulatory plan and call for a new tender for the sale of the building, or if we will not change the plan and will seek a new investor in the competition, who would enter with the risk that the reconstruction would be financially demanding," said Hájek.

The former textile factory Perla 01 was located on more than three hectares near the center. The city purchased the site for 30 million crowns in 2011. Two years later, the city hall announced an architectural competition, then issued a regulatory plan, and in 2017 and 2018, it demolished the production halls and other buildings that occupied more than 80 percent of the area. The city wants to keep only a smaller part of the area and has built a House of Children and Youth at a cost of 85 million crowns excluding VAT; it plans to turn the old boiler room, machine room, and part of the administrative building into a contemporary art gallery referencing the city's textile history. The Pardubice Region intends to build studios for an applied arts high school on part of the site of the former factory. Ústí has also sold land in the area on which a private company has built a rehabilitation center with a polyclinic.