The archbishopric was deterred from the public sale of Clara Futura by the sale of the Jindřišská Tower

Prague - The Prague archdiocese was deterred from the public sale of the castle hotel complex Clara Futura in Dolní Břežany due to the unsuccessful public sale of the Jindřišská Tower in Prague. Economist of the archdiocese Linda Dolečková told reporters today. The loss-making castle hotel was sold by the archdiocese last year for 308 million crowns to the current tenant, which the archdiocese leadership considered to be under advantageous conditions. The reconstruction of the castle cost between 2015 and 2018, 250 million crowns. The archdiocese plans to invest the acquired funds into the construction of a speech therapy school in Klecany near Prague.

"The decision to conduct intensive negotiations on the sale of Clara Futura with the current tenant was influenced by the circumstances and broad discussion following the bad experience with the public offer of the Jindřišská Tower. That was a very similar case where a lease agreement was in place. To this day, the tower is not sold, even though we desperately need funds for the next part of our schools. The public matter surrounding the Jindřišská Tower significantly complicated and ultimately blocked this transaction,” Dolečková stated. The archdiocese did not disclose specific conditions for the sale; currently, the owner of the property in the land register is the Prague company CF Property.

Jan Balík, the general vicar of the archdiocese, said he considers last year's sale a success. "There were three expert assessments, since it was a complicated property, they varied. They were between 161 and 190 million crowns; in the end, the price was agreed at 308 million crowns,” he stated. He added that it was necessary to realize that they are not selling a golden egg, but "a bit of gilding,” and this was due, for example, to construction defects.

Balík mentioned that they needed to sell Clara Futura in order to have money for the construction of a speech therapy school in Klecany near Prague, which will require about half a billion crowns. The investment project in church education is sponsored by the Saint Ludmila Foundation.

Representatives of the archdiocese also commented today on other transactions from previous years. The archdiocese acquired a hotel in Mostov for 27 million crowns during bankruptcy proceedings and gradually invested 50 million crowns into it. In the end, the hotel was sold for 55 million crowns. "Mostov was a certain investment intention that the starting businessman was unable to manage, so he disposed of it as best as he could,” Balík said.

In the building of the Prague archdiocese, detectives from the National Center Against Organized Crime intervened in early September. They were investigating suspicions of fraud, in which the archdiocese was in the position of the injured party; the criminal activity was related to property transfers from the ownership of the archdiocese. The estimated damage was 200 million crowns. Representatives of the archdiocese stated today that they could not comment on the police action due to confidentiality obligations.

The archdiocese offered the Jindřišská Tower for sale in 2022, and 30 potential buyers expressed interest. Last year, it offered it to Prague for 100 million crowns, which was about double the assessed value. The capital city did not want to purchase the medieval tower due to the high price and the long lease agreement that the current tenant has until 2044.