The state is investigating whether Liberec would buy the Skloexport building for almost 67 million CZK.

Liberec – The state is assessing whether Liberec would be willing to purchase the long-unused seven-story Skloexport building in the city for nearly 67 million crowns. City councilors will discuss this next Thursday. Mayor Jaroslav Zámečník (Mayors for the Liberec Region) told reporters today. The Office for State Representation in Property Matters (ÚZSVM) has given the city hall until the end of January to express its opinion, stating that a final decision on the mode of sale for this expansive building near the train station has yet to be made.

The former Skloexport headquarters, with two underground and five above-ground floors, was built at the corner of Žitavská and 1. máje streets from 1928 to 1930 for the tax and customs administration. The world-renowned exporter of Czech glass acquired it during the communist regime; the company went bankrupt in the latter half of the 1990s. The state took over the building in 2001, has no plans for it, and it has been vacant for the past 15 years. In previous years, Liberec attempted to obtain the building with a floor area of 9,357 square meters free of charge, but this request was unsuccessful with the state.

Zámečník believes that the economic aspect will play a key role in the decision-making of the councilors. "Whether the city has the funds to purchase it or has some vision of how to manage this building," Zámečník said. According to him, there are currently no specific plans for the former Skloexport headquarters. However, he previously mentioned that it could accommodate officials and part of the space could be commercially rented out by the city.

Although the building appears relatively well-preserved from the outside, it requires nearly a complete renovation. Estimates suggest this will cost between half a billion and 900 million crowns. "Which I believe is an absolutely unimaginable impact on the city budget if we were to pursue something like this," said councilor Petr Židek (ODS) today.

According to Deputy Mayor for Economics Zbyňek Karban (ANO), the city hall currently does not have the funds for such an expensive renovation and would need to take out a loan. He is skeptical about this option also because the city is also expecting an expensive renovation of the swimming stadium, estimated at more than 800 million crowns. "We simply have to do that in any case; we don't have to buy this building," he said. He would consider it a possible solution if the city hall approached the purchase of Skloexport as a development project and somehow recouped the money invested. However, he did not specify what type of project it might be.