Praha 6 sells land to the PPF group near the demolished Hotel Praha

Prague - Prague 6 will sell land adjacent to the site of the recently demolished Praha hotel to the PPF group. This will add 50 million crowns to the city treasury. The council decided this today after a long debate. The opposition opposed the sale. They argued that the decision should be made by a new political administration emerging from the October elections. Prague 6 sold the five-star hotel in 2002 for 501 million crowns.
    The sale concerns several plots of land. The biggest debate was about the plot adjacent to Mydlářka street, which PPF stated should become part of the prestigious Open Gate primary school and gymnasium in the future. Representatives from PPF told council members today that the school, which will be built on the site of the recently demolished garages of the Praha hotel, is set to open in 2017. If the council postponed the sale, it could delay the opening of the school by a year.
    Opposition councilors from the Green Party proposed the delay. "We do not agree with controversial asset sales being approved shortly before elections," said councilor Petr Hrdina (SZ). According to councilor Petra Kolínská, the district should use the land for building a kindergarten. She claimed that by selling the last plots, they would lose influence over whether the newly emerging site will be accessible to the public, as according to current plans it should not be open to the public. Deputy Mayor Štěpán Stupčuk from the ČSSD rejected these arguments. "The land being sold is not independently accessible, and there is no possibility for Prague 6 to build any public-interest buildings here," he stated. "Without the sale, we are left with the land and all its burdens, and it's unclear what we will do with it," he added.
    The Praha hotel site was acquired by the PPF group last year. The demolition of the hotel was permitted by the Prague 6 building authority. The demolition began in January. The hotel disappeared within a few months. The owner intends to restore the park that existed on the site until the seventies of the last century. The planned school building will be connected to the nearby Hadovka complex.
    The Praha hotel was built in the late 1970s. Until November 1989 it served the needs of the Communist Party and the Czechoslovak government. Many therefore perceive it as a symbol of the pre-November era. Opinions among the general public and experts on the demolition of the hotel vary. Some oppose the demolition, considering the hotel a unique structure. Others argue that it is average architecture. PPF points out that the building is oversized and uneconomical.