The Property Office is once again offering the Štiřín Castle, having reduced the price to 2.5 billion CZK

Prague - The Office for Representation of the State in Property Matters (ÚZSVM) has announced the second round of the electronic auction for the Štiřín chateau in Central Bohemia. The auction will take place from October 22 to 23. The starting price has been lowered by the office by 800 million crowns to 2.5 billion CZK compared to the unsuccessful first round from last week. The auction deposit has also been reduced, now amounting to 25 million crowns instead of the previous 30 million. ÚZSVM announced this today in a press release.

The first round of the auction took place last week, but no bidder submitted the required deposit. Before the second round, ÚZSVM will allow potential bidders to view the chateau on two occasions, scheduled for October 9 and 16. During the auction itself, the minimum bid will be set at 75,000 crowns.

The chateau previously served as a hotel with a restaurant, wellness center, and golf course. Originally, Štiřín was managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which announced that it did not need the complex and transferred it to the property office in June last year. According to the office, the complex was already closed at the time of the transfer. This year, the office announced that no other state institution had expressed interest in the chateau, and therefore it would begin selling to private bidders.

"The legally preferred method of dealing with unnecessary state property is sale through a transparent selection procedure. In the case of the Štiřín chateau, ÚZSVM found no reason to deviate from this procedure, also due to the high costs to taxpayers for managing empty and unnecessary state property," the office stated today.

According to ÚZSVM, the costs of managing the complex are high. The director of the office, Kateřina Arajmu, told members of the parliamentary control committee in March this year that the empty complex costs the state 600,000 crowns per month, with the largest amount being for maintaining the golf course.

The control committee protested against the sale and suggested that the management of Štiřín be transferred, for example, to the Chamber of Deputies. The municipality of Kamenice also opposed the auction, proposing a joint project with the state. According to them, part of the chateau could house medical offices and a kindergarten, while the remainder could still be used by the state. The mayor of Kamenice, Pavel Čermák (ind.), told ČTK in early September that he did not expect the chateau to be sold in the first round of bidding. He stated that in the event of an unsuccessful auction, there could be space re-opened for negotiations with the state regarding the use of the property.

The Štiřín chateau was built in the mid-18th century. Its current appearance was acquired around 1900 after modifications based on the design by architect Jiří Stibral. In 1945, the state became the owner of the chateau. Between 1985 and 1993, modifications were made to the chateau so it could be used as a hotel. In the past, the chateau was used by scouts, who later unsuccessfully sued for the property. However, in 2005, the court ruled that the current scout organization Junák had no rights to the chateau.

In the event of a successful auction, the Štiřín chateau could become the most successful sale in the history of ÚZSVM. The highest amount to date, 790 million crowns, was obtained from the sale of the complex in Republic Square in Prague.