Litomyšl will negotiate with three interested parties for the Villa Klára

Litomyšl - Litomyšl will negotiate with three interested parties regarding Villa Klára, for which the city has no application and lacks funds for repairs. In the new procurement procedure, five parties applied, but two did not meet the conditions, such as not providing a bidding price. The city management wants to discuss their plans in more detail with the remaining parties, said Mayor Daniel Brýdl (Generation 89) to ČTK.

"One wants a healthcare center, another accommodation with physiotherapy, and the third a school with a community space and café. All are more or less local, one already participated in the last competition," said Brýdl. According to him, the main evaluation criterion will be the intended use of the building. The three interested parties that progressed to the second round are closely matched in price, offering between seven and eight million crowns.

The city management of Litomyšl plans meetings with individual investors, during which any uncertainties should be clarified and the city's ideas potentially refined. Subsequently, the interested parties should prepare visualizations and studies of the building's use. A final decision is unlikely to be made this year.

The city wanted to sell Villa Klára last year, but none of the proposals from the two investors received support among the councilors. In the previous competition, the municipality set a uniform selling price of six million crowns, with the main criteria for selection being future use, benefits for the residents, and respect for the historical character of the place near the chateau.

Last year, local company Kubík expressed interest, primarily operating retail and wholesale for food and textiles. They offered 11 million crowns for the building and are based next to the villa in the so-called new brewery. They wanted to connect both areas and build an experiential congress hotel with wellness, a brewery, a partially spa operation, accommodation, and a large underground parking lot in the villa. They also promised to create 78 jobs. A petition against the sale to Kubík was created. The authors of the Petition for the Preservation of the Genius Loci of the Chateau Hill in Litomyšl consider the company’s plan to be disproportionately ambitious and risky. They are also bothered that it would be close to the Renaissance château.

The second interested parties, the Kučera couple, wanted to turn the villa into a community center with a café and workshop for seniors. They also considered cooperating with the Faculty of Restoration of the University of Pardubice, which is based in the city and needs to accommodate foreign students, or possibly further leasing. They were willing to pay six million crowns for the building.

For the second time, the competition conditions are more lenient. The future user can modify the villa in accordance with the territorial plan and its connections to surrounding complexes and buildings of the château, the brewery, and the monastery gardens, which form one urban and architectural unit. They cannot change the height of the building. The city emphasizes quality architecture and also requires the creation of adequate parking capacities. Besides selling, the building may also be leased.

Litomyšl acquired the building in 2020 for five million crowns from the Pardubice Region. Until 2018, it housed a long-term illness treatment facility, but the building was in poor condition, and the regional authority relocated the facility to the Litomyšl Hospital complex.

The villa, built in 1895, is in the neo-Renaissance style and was commissioned by brewer Karel Sedlák from Litomyšl. From 1929, it was home to the St. Klára Home managed by the Order of St. Charles Borromeo, which Sedlák donated to the association. Since 1949, it has been state property. A department for long-term patients was established there in 1974.