Ústí nad Labem councilors will decide on the completion of the construction site in the city center

Ústí nad Labem - Ústí city councilors will decide on February 16 whether the abandoned construction site in the city center, referred to as block 004, will be completed by the company BBP Stavby Management. It is the only interested party. The councilors have already agreed to award the contract to the firm selected by the acting administrator. Opposition councilor Richard Loskot (PRO! Ústí) told ČTK today that there are uncertainties surrounding the completion. The largest opposition movement has long advocated for an architectural competition. What the building will look like is not yet clear, said ČTK secretary of the city hall Miloš Studenovský.

The abandoned construction site near Mírové náměstí, where the company UDES has built only a two-story underground parking lot over 14 years, was purchased by the city in 2023. It paid 73 million crowns for it, even though the price in the area was typically assessed at 37 million crowns according to an expert appraisal. The city leadership argued that the price also covers the project for the completion of the building.

Among the conditions for completion is that the selected company will complete the building at its own expense. The city will pay 1.5 million crowns per year without VAT for the right to build, while the local government will pay over 1.7 million crowns per year in rent for the spaces in the building after its completion. The company will also be collecting money from other tenants.

"If the council agrees and approves this matter at its meeting on February 16, a binding schedule will follow," said mayor Petr Nedvědický (ANO) to journalists today. The company will have to establish the construction site within two months, and within the next six months, after discussions with the city, finalize the project and the documents for the amendment of the building permit. Construction work should begin nine months after the contract enters into force. The building in the location, which locals call "the hole," should be completed within three years.

The opposition points to the uncertainties surrounding the project. For example, there is ambiguity regarding the project documentation, which the city used to justify the purchase of the plot. Later, the city stated that the project needs to be revised. From today's statement by the mayor, it emerged that the contractor will complete the documentation. "A study with a proposed form of the new building has been designed; however, it was not a project as such," said Studenovský. The contractor will have to develop the project using the study, meaning the proposed shape of the building may still change.

"The city leadership has been avoiding a clear formulation of the intention from the start. It has not presented the architectural study, the structural integrity is not verified, it lacks a verifying economic study, and it cannot meaningfully state which departments need to be relocated and why," said Loskot, who expects that the councilors will receive answers at the February meeting. According to him, the city's lack of transparency has resulted in only one applicant being interested in the completion. It is also unclear how many square meters the city requires, added the councilor. "Our movement has insisted from the beginning on an architectural competition, on a clear formulation of the building's purpose and how this building will improve the environment of our gloomy center," added Loskot.