Brno will acquire a transformer station that interferes with the construction of the concert hall

Brno - Brno will acquire the transformer station near the International hotel, which impacts the area in front of the future Janáček Cultural Center. The city will demolish the transformer station to create Ludvik Kundera Square in front of the planned concert hall costing two billion. Mayor Markéta Vaňková (ODS) announced the agreement between the city and HIB Development, the owner of the hotel and transformer station, to journalists today.

The city has been striving to acquire the transformer station for about 15 years. The council today approved the plan to exchange the transformer station for a plot of land that includes a building at Starobrněnská street number 20. "It is a building with rental commercial and office spaces. Once the exchange finally takes place, the rights and obligations from the current contracts will of course transfer to the new owner," said the councilor for property Róbert Čuma (Pirates). According to him, both properties will be assessed by an expert, and the company is prepared to pay the city the price difference.

According to Vaňková, the city will have the transformer station demolished. "Its removal will help the newly emerging Janáček Cultural Center. Thanks to this, there will be space next to the new concert hall that will proudly bear the name of the first rector of the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts, Ludvik Kundera," Vaňková said.

The concert hall will be located at the corner of Besední and Veselé streets, and the construction is expected to cost two billion crowns. In the past, the Ministry of Culture promised to provide 600 million for it, and the South Moravian Region pledged support of 100 million. The space in the hall, which will have a capacity of 1100 to 1200 seats, will find its use with the Brno Philharmonic, which lacks similar venues. The project recently received building permission. Vaňková hopes that construction work will begin by spring 2022 at the latest. There are already underground garages with nearly 200 spaces in the area, but they are currently closed.