Plzeň has four options for the future of the cultural house Peklo

Plzeň - The heritage-protected cultural house Peklo in Plzeň, which had to be closed last year due to a state of emergency, will need to be reconstructed by the city at a cost of hundreds of millions of koruna. However, it can also be sold or offered in a concession procedure for long-term lease - the tenant would then have to repair it themselves. This follows from a report presented to the city councilors today by Councilor David Šlouf (ODS). They should decide on one of the options in May. Peklo is the largest municipal hall for cultural events, alongside Měšťanská beseda.

"The informative report includes all possibilities regarding the property - from the reconstruction of the main hall, that is, from a small variant costing around 254 million koruna including VAT to a large variant (i.e. the repair of the hall plus the entire Peklo building), which is estimated at around 510 million koruna," he stated. The city currently does not have the money for repairs, and if it goes this route, it will need to take out a loan - likely from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with which it has an open credit line of 650 million koruna, of which it has not yet drawn any funds. According to Šlouf, it is currently not possible to obtain grants for such a project, although some options may appear in the EU's third planning period after 2020.

"These two options have some logic," Šlouf noted. Another objective possibility is the sale of Peklo, and the fourth is the concession procedure. "The city will say - we have this property, we offer a concession to an indefinite group of interested parties and come tell us what you would like to do here, how you would repair it, what you would request from the city for rent, and let’s discuss," he said. Through a long-term lease, tenants would then have assurance that their investments would appreciate.

With today’s report, the councilor wanted to inform the councilors of all the possibilities. "Now we will discuss this in the clubs (of the representatives). I would like a decision to be made on one of the four options by May at the latest," Šlouf stated.

The closure of Peklo was decided last August by a structural engineer after examining the beams and walls above the main hall, which were heavily infested with wood-destroying fungi. At the end of last year, the city allocated 20 million koruna for the replacement of boilers, piping, radiators, and sanitary facilities. The comprehensive renovation was left by the representatives to the new city administration.

Concerts, theater performances, and prom nights had to be moved to DEPA2015, which is run by the municipal company Plzeň 2015, just like Peklo, and to other halls in the city, such as Měšťanská beseda and Parkhotel.

The town hall received the cultural house from the state for free 15 years ago, but has not invested much in its repairs yet.