Czech Radiocommunications are looking for a new tenant for Ještěd

Liberec - Czech Radiocommunications are looking for a new tenant for the mountain hotel and transmitter Ještěd. One of the conditions is investment in the reconstruction of this unique building. The management of Radiocommunications wants to evaluate offers during March, according to today’s Liberec supplement of Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD). Ještěd has been a national cultural monument since 2006; Czech Radiocommunications acquired it six years earlier for 85 million crowns. The entity has previously invested more than 20 million crowns into the facility, but the unique building needs a complete renovation, with costs estimated at 350 million crowns.
    "We will offer a favorable long-term lease to the partner who prepares a proposal on how to restore the prestige of Ještěd and expand and improve services for visitors,” said the spokesman for Czech Radiocommunications, Kamil Chalupa, to the newspaper. He did not want to specify other lease conditions.
    The company Ještěd, which has been operating the hotel since 1996, is also interested in leasing the building and is open to starting renovations. "We would be happy if the lease conditions changed. Until now, they did not allow us to invest in repairs. Renovations have repeatedly been postponed, awaiting a new owner,” said the company’s managing director, Petr Šmaus. According to him, it is necessary to replace the furniture, and the technical equipment needs renovation as well. The new agreement should also lead to Ještěd expanding its services. In recent years, the hotel's visitor numbers have dropped. Šmaus attributes this mainly to the economic crisis that most hoteliers are facing.
    The Liberec Region is also interested in Ještěd. It aimed to purchase it from Radiocommunications for about 80 million, but negotiations stalled when the region used the earmarked funds differently. According to Deputy Governor Lidie Vajnerová, there is no point in considering the purchase until the region has the money for the necessary repairs.
    The mountain hotel Ještěd is a Czech building of the century. The hyperboloid, 94 meters high, uniquely combines the functions of a transmitter, hotel, and restaurant. The cornerstone of the structure was ceremonially laid 45 years ago - in July 1966. Its author, Karel Hubáček, received the Perret Award in 1969, awarded by the International Union of Architects. Both experts and laypeople are still captivated by the way the building complements the silhouette of the 1012-meter-high mountain. The region is striving for the registration of the building on the UNESCO heritage list.