Diplomacy no longer wants a new embassy in the USA; it will renovate the current one

Chalupa architects, Czech Republic embassy in Washington - 1st prize in the competition

Prague - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs no longer counts on the construction of a new embassy building in Washington. Instead, the money that the government allocated for this construction two years ago wants to use for the renovation of the current embassy buildings and the Czech permanent mission to the UN, said David Frous, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to ČTK. The government will hear information about the new investment intentions of the diplomacy on Monday.
The government allocated 579 million crowns for the construction of a new embassy in the American metropolis in the spring of 2012. According to diplomats, the current building, which was built in 1969, has inadequate utilities and other deficiencies. However, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs of the caretaker government, Jan Kohout, halted the project last year, stating that it should be decided by the cabinet that would emerge from the elections. The minister's argument at that time was also the fact that the construction of a new facility would, according to new calculations, be twice as expensive as the amount promised by the government.

Current building of the Czech embassy in Washington

The new embassy building in the shape of the letter ypsilon was originally planned to be built in 2016. Instead, the ministry now wants to use the allocated funds for the renovation of two current diplomatic representation buildings in the USA - the embassy in Washington and the permanent mission to the UN in New York.
According to Frous, the office expects that these investments will cost approximately 550 to 560 million crowns in total. The specific costs will be shown by an updated study commissioned by the ministry.
The last major investment by the Czech Republic in the USA was the complete reconstruction of the Czech National Building in New York, which houses the Czech Center, the consulate general, and the Czech expatriate association. The originally planned costs of over 200 million crowns eventually exceeded 800 million crowns.