Modřany returned to the project of the new town hall, it probably won't be in Prior

ABM architekti: Multipurpose Center U Dubu - City Hall of Prague 12 (2011)

Prague - Prague's Modřany is returning to the project of a new city hall. The location and appearance of the building will be designed directly by firms, from which the city hall administration will select through a public procurement process. The announcement of this tender will be discussed by council members at the April meeting; today they took note of the next steps. The previously planned reconstruction of the department store on Sofijské náměstí, which was estimated five years ago at 460 million crowns, is likely to be abandoned. Current costs are estimated at around 350 million crowns.

The district office of Prague 12 currently operates in seven different locations. "Any further operation of these seven buildings is unsustainable and very expensive," stated Deputy Mayor Jan Marhoul (ČSSD) at today's meeting. The buildings are not located near public transport stops and do not have barrier-free access. The city hall is located in a building on Písková Street.

The original historical city hall of old Modřany was demolished in the 1980s. The plan, which envisaged a building for clerks in the Prior store, was announced by the then city hall administration in 2007. According to estimates at that time, it was supposed to cost between 340 and 390 million crowns. However, it ended up only with the construction of a shopping arcade, where the stores were supposed to move. An advantage of the building was to be its location between the old and new development of Modřany and good transport accessibility.

Today, the council members discussed a study that analyzed the options for the location and financing of the new city hall. The most favorable plot among those owned by the city is recommended to be the land between Písková and Generála Šišky streets, not far from the current city hall. The study also considered the possibility of placing the new city hall on the current parking lots in Těšíkov or Pejevova, or on the Prior site. It also offers commercial land, such as the planned administrative building U Dubu or the area of the former heating plant, technical services, or sugar factory.

The study's authors recommended that the city hall, catering to about 250 clerks, be partly financed through a bank loan and profits from property sales. According to them, the building of the former Prior, unused office buildings, and the former K Lesu primary school, which is rented by a private school, could be sold. This could generate up to 300 million crowns. The school can also continue to be rented out, using the rents to pay off the loan installments.

The district will also use 160 million crowns for the new city hall, which it previously obtained by selling the Točná airport. Additional funds could come from the sale of land for residential construction or from the potential sale of the Prior department store if the winning project does not include the use of its land.

In two months, the council members will discuss the announcement of a public procurement for a contractor through a competitive dialogue. According to the public procurement law, this method is intended to help assign contracts where it is not known in advance how to correctly and sufficiently specify the conditions for their fulfillment. It is based on the principle of repeated negotiations with suppliers.

Other city districts are also considering a new city hall. For several years, Prague 10 has been dealing with the relocation from the Vlasta building in Vršovice. The opposition and citizens have opposed the project for the construction costing three-quarters of a billion crowns. Now they are considering the possibilities of renovating the Vlasta building or the old school near the Strašnická metro station.

Prague 8 has begun constructing a new city hall in Palmovka. The construction, costing 1.1 billion crowns, was supposed to be completed in March 2016, but it is currently halted, and the company has received about half of the total amount paid.