The district council wants documents for the heritage protection of Ostravice

Ostrava - The councilors of the central city district of Moravská Ostrava and Přívoz want to know how the heritage protection of the Ostravica-Textilia department store has been secured over the past three years. Once the most luxurious department store in the center of the regional city, it has been deteriorating for years. At a special meeting today, the councilors decided to submit a proposal to the city's chief architect's office for an investigation into the condition of three historic buildings, said Deputy Mayor Dalibor Mouka (Ostravak movement) to ČTK today.
    "We all know what the state of those buildings looks like today. We basically want to get information on how the chief architect's office has proceeded," said Mouka. The councilors would also like to know whether the buildings are secured so as not to endanger the health and safety of residents. The district council is demanding copies of documents collected from the beginning of 2009 to the present. "That is, during the period when the greatest devastation of the buildings occurred," noted Mouka. The district demands, for example, protocols from inspections of the given buildings, requests directed to the owner of the building, or any other related regulations or decisions.
    The Deputy Mayor added that if insufficient heritage care is proven, the district wants to initiate further discussions about the fate of the historic buildings. Mouka considers the current care for the complex of buildings to be insufficient. The chief architect of the city of Ostrava, Cyril Vltavský, told ČTK today that if the district requests the documents, they will be provided. "We repeat this over and over. The heritage preservation authorities acted according to the heritage preservation law. Of course, we have the documentation that we can present," added Vltavský.
    The owner of the group of three buildings is the company Amádeus Real, which originally planned to partially utilize them and connect them with a new shopping center that was to be built nearby on the parcels it purchased from the city. However, the company eventually withdrew from the purchase agreement because the central city district did not want to grant approval for the construction. It demands a repayment of 54 million crowns out of the total purchase price of 83 million crowns and had previously announced that it would also seek compensation for damages incurred. The district eventually reassessed its original decision and granted the necessary approval. Amádeus Real has now refused to comment on the entire issue, and the future of the project remains uncertain, with the possibility that everything may end up in court.
    The decline of what was once the most luxurious department store in the city began in 2000 when it closed after ceilings collapsed during an unauthorized renovation. Two of the three dilapidated historic buildings are protected as heritage sites. A petition to save the department store has also been created in the city, which has so far been signed by more than 5,700 people.