Plzeň will offer part of the brewery and Světovar to developers

Plzeň - Part of the former Světovar brewery and barracks, which Plzeň did not manage to transform into a cultural factory with European funds, will be offered by the city to developers. The archive in the adjacent high-rise building will be completed by the city hall from its own funds. This was stated by Mayor Martin Zrzavecký (ČSSD) and his deputy Pavel Šindelář (ODS) to ČTK.
    The cultural factory 4x4 was a key project of the European Capital of Culture 2015. Due to harmful tar and corkolites in the walls and floors, the city halted the project, for which a contractor had already been selected, a year ago. The city then invested 42 million koruna into remediation.
    Another more than 30 million koruna has already gone into the preparation of the city archive. "We would revise the project and complete the archive for 100 million koruna," he said. The archive is urgently needed by Plzeň. In December, its license was supposed to expire due to non-compliant conditions, but it was eventually extended. "The Ministry of the Interior will be very carefully monitoring whether we are acting regarding the archive," said Deputy Mayor Martin Baxa (ODS). Furthermore, the high-rise building can also serve for other activities of the city.
    For the adjacent lower building, which was to be transformed into a cultural factory for alternative culture, the city will look for a partner to invest in the area, including the villa on Koterovská Street and other buildings towards the depot, and to develop it. "It is clear that the cultural factory 4x4 will no longer be there. There may be spaces for business," said the mayor.
    Šindelář will present a proposal to terminate the contract with the selected builders at the June city council. "We are trying to reach a reasonable agreement. Of course, we are aware that withdrawing from the contract will cost us something, but we want to minimize those expenses," said the mayor.
    According to Šindelář, the city wants to open the area to developers, just like one third of the six-hectare Světovar complex, where apartments are to be built. From the 50 developers contacted last year, Plzeň's BC Real has expressed interest. "The city council has approved its plan for the construction of an apartment building," he said. However, the investor is waiting to see how the city will manage Světovar.
    The Department of Concept and Development will now identify three functions that the offered space should have, and then it will be offered on the market. It will remain in the ownership of the city, and it would be a long-term lease.
    In the election campaign, for example, the ČSSD proposed that a city brewery with a restaurant could be established in the area.