Controversial giant center in Plzeň wants to connect with the polyclinic

Plzeň - Czech developer Amádeus, for whose plan to build a giant house in the center of Plzeň there will be a referendum next week, today reached an agreement with the owner of the neighboring polyclinic on the connection of both facilities. The city center around Americká street will become more attractive, the location will be more accessible to visitors of both facilities, said Jan Petřík from the investor company Amádeus Plzeň and Václav Vachta, the director of the Polyclinic Denisovo nábřeží, after signing a memorandum of cooperation and development of the location.
    In the upper part of the planned shopping center Corso Americká, worth 2.5 billion crowns, there will be parking spaces reserved for polyclinic patients, according to Petřík. Part of the shopping center will also include a new pharmacy and a drug dispensing unit for the polyclinic. There will be free and barrier-free access between Corso and the polyclinic, according to Vachta. Both facilities will have joint navigation for visitors.
    The polyclinic plans a significant modernization within two to three years, according to Vachta. "A unique multifunctional environment can be created where the people of Plzeň can receive the maximum services in one space," he stated. Corso is expected to host 90 businesses and up to 1,000 jobs. Its investor has suspended the zoning proceedings at the request of the city council until the results of the referendum.
    A local referendum on the planned construction of a multifunctional building will take place in Plzeň together with the presidential elections, i.e., on January 11 and 12. The referendum will determine whether the city should immediately take all necessary steps to prevent the construction of a giant building on the site of the demolished cultural house. The preparatory committee for the referendum and the city council have already launched their campaigns.
    The city council stated in a flyer that if the citizens' answer is "yes", the city would have to purchase the investor's land at an estimated price of 263 million crowns, which would threaten investments, services, and support for public benefit organizations. "However, the city would not be throwing this money out of the window, but would acquire free land in the center," said Martin Marek, the representative of the referendum's preparatory committee.
    Amádeus, as the investor and owner of the three-hectare plot, is not considering selling the land to the city. "If he ever considered it, it would certainly be for several billion crowns and would account for the lost investment," Petřík said.
    The city council estimates the cost of the referendum at three million crowns. Roman Matoušek from the magistrate indicated that for the 178 referendum commissions, which must by law be different from those for the presidential elections, 940 people need to be secured. The city is to have one member and one secretary in each commission, while the remaining 560 people will be provided by the preparatory committee. They are jointly seeking commissioners.