Olomouc will sell the Edelmann Palace to Barnet for 38 million

Olomouc - The city of Olomouc will sell the Edelmann Palace to entrepreneur Miroslav Barneta from the Hanácká real estate agency for 38 million crowns. Part of the price will be settled by transferring his land on Denisova Street, which the art museum needs for the future Central European Forum. The land, measuring 395 square meters, is valued at 9.5 million crowns. The city will then immediately sell it to the museum. The sale of the Edelmann Palace was approved by 32 of the 41 present councillors, with eight voting against it.
    The costs for the construction of the Central European Forum (SEFO) and the renovation of the museum could reach up to 900 million crowns. The European Union is expected to provide funding through the Ministry of Culture. The contract for the transfer of the palace to Barneta is conditional on the release of a subsidy from the Ministry of Culture for the establishment of the Central European Forum.
    The 16th-century Edelmann Palace contains two apartments and 1,262 square meters of non-residential space. Their yield amounts to about 1.6 million crowns per year. The city previously invested 2.8 million in the property, when it had the roof covering replaced and the facade repaired. An additional 1.6 million was invested in construction modifications for the bookstore. According to estimates, the palace will require investments in electrical and heating installations amounting to 7.5 million crowns in the future.
    The Central European Forum was ceremonially established in June 2008 in the presence of ministers and state secretaries from the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. Two months later, it became clear that the museum would not be able to acquire the last plot of land under the future cultural venue. Barneta purchased the key plot in the gap last summer for seven million crowns from the Nácar couple. Although the museum agreed to the same price with them, it wanted to repay part of it in real estate, which the Nácar couple did not agree to. "At that time, it was not possible to exceed the limits of cash. They were based on the strict rules of the Ministry of Finance," said Pavel Zatloukal, the director of the Museum of Art, to ČTK earlier.
    The Ministry of Culture considers SEFO to be the most important of the 14 projects it wants to support in the regions. "It is a project that has no competition, and the chances of its creation are almost one hundred percent," said Mayor Martin Novotný (ODS) today regarding SEFO.
    Councillor František Mezihorák (ČSSD) called for a reduction of the SEFO project because he did not like that the city and the museum were being blackmailed. His colleague Jaroslav Vomáčka (ČSSD) lamented that a taboo established by the city council coalition during the sale of buildings in the square had also been violated. "None of us chose this situation, and it is not a pleasant topic for any of us," Novotný declared.
    The SEFO project is expected to be approved by the ministry at the turn of August and September. The museum should receive construction permission in October. "We expect to open it in 2013," Zatloukal told the councillors. It is meant to serve as a counterbalance to another component of the Museum of Art, which is the Archdiocesan Museum. In addition to a collection of artworks from Central European countries since 1945, it will focus on chamber theater and film and will also have an extensive library named after Otto František Babler.
    In the previous electoral period, the Olomouc City Hall sold, for example, the Salm Palace in Horní náměstí for 51 million crowns. In the central square with the city hall, the city still owns about half of the buildings, including the house U Jelena and the Krajinská Pharmacy.