Ostrava will have a new theater, the councilors approved the sale of the land

Ostrava - Ostrava will have a new theater in the city district of Vítkovice. It will be a new stage for the successful Divadlo Mír, owned by actor Albert Čuba. Ostrava's councilors decided at their meeting today to sell the land for the construction of the theater. Čuba's company, Elieva, will purchase it for more than 14 million crowns excluding VAT, which is the price determined by an expert assessment. The city will build a public underground parking lot beneath the theater, which will be its property. The mayor, Jan Dohnal (Spolu), told journalists today.

Divadlo Mír has been active in the regional capital since 2017, and the new stage building is set to be constructed in close proximity on Jiřího z Poděbrad Square, on a plot of about 3,500 square meters. The city will build an underground parking lot for at least 100 vehicles in the area. The theater is to be created according to the design of architect Andrea Jašková, and construction could begin in autumn 2027. The opposition pointed out today that by building the underground parking lot, the city would save the investor costs when establishing the building, thus providing public support, and demanded that an architectural competition be announced for the design of the new theater building.

"I think we can be glad that we have a private investor here in Ostrava who wants to build us a private theater, especially considering how much our municipal theaters cost us to operate, so I welcome Mr. Čuba's initiative," said Dohnal.

He reminded that the land on which the theater is to be built is managed by the Vítkovice municipal district. Representatives of the district, according to Dohnal, pointed out that if a new theater building is created, there will be fewer parking spaces available than there are today. "They approached us with the idea that we could discuss compensation for these parking spaces. There were many options for solving this, ranging from identifying other plots to building a parking structure. We liked the option of creating a parking structure under this theater the most," Dohnal said.

However, the parking structure will not serve only the theater, where performances are mainly held in the evening, but also residents or visitors. "Cars are primarily parked there during the day. The option for the city to build a parking structure on site and for the private investor to build a theater above this structure seemed to us to be the most reasonable. After all, this is not the first case in the city's history. We built the campus building of the University of Ostrava in a similar way, where the university built what is above ground, and the city also built the underground garages beneath this structure," the mayor added.

Čuba stated today at the council that if he were to build the theater with underground parking, the project would be unfeasible for him. According to Čuba, the city will be the owner of the underground parking, and therefore, it will also generate revenue from its operation into its budget, thus ensuring a return on investment. He also pointed out that as a private investor, he sees no reason for announcing an architectural competition because he wants to build the structure according to his vision. However, he stated that he wants an architecturally interesting building to arise in the area and intends to consult the project regularly with the city.

Since its founding, the theater has produced about 20 productions and staged nearly 800 performances. In recent years, it has achieved 100% attendance, and its performances have been sold out for a long time, which is also the reason for the construction of a new stage. Even after its opening, the existing theater will be preserved. The costs of building the new theater are estimated at 200 million crowns.