In the dilapidated part of the former Palace hotel in Ostrava, small rental apartments will be created

Ostrava – The development group Antracit has purchased the complex of the former Hotel Palace in the center of Ostrava. A part of it will retain the student Campus Palace, which has been operating there since 2016. In the dilapidated larger part of the complex, Antracit aims to build primarily small rental apartments suitable for young families, for example. The value of the entire project may approach one billion crowns. Representatives of the Purposia Group holding, of which Antracit is a part, told journalists today.

"In the coming months, we will be focusing on the exact content, but we are aiming for small housing that would be barrier-free, serving young families, students, and seniors. At the same time, there should be some facilities in the area that they can use, and we definitely want to restore the original ground floor layout that was there. We can remember that there was, for example, the Bocaccio bar," said Zuzana Bajgarová, director of the Antracit group.

According to her, the value of the entire project may approach one billion crowns. "The purchase of the properties cost hundreds of millions of crowns. We agreed not to disclose the exact amount. And higher hundreds of millions will definitely go towards the entire reconstruction and completion," said the director.

Antracit aims to complete the entire project by 2030, with plans to revive the individual spaces gradually. "We would like to start, if possible, with the ground floor and begin restoring at least some retail units, creating a connection to the street. Then, a lot will depend on what the architectural concept will look like. Part of the building will have to be demolished; this is in the courtyard area, and there is already a demolition permit for one of the buildings. After that, we will see what it shows us, but I hope we can open the first space within two years," said Bajgarová.

The Hotel Palace, opened in 1913 as the Hotel National, was one of the most luxurious hotels in Austria-Hungary at that time. The complex consists of several buildings. In the second half of the last century, the originally Art Nouveau structures underwent an insensitive reconstruction, which is why they were not declared cultural monuments, except for the part where the National café used to be located. Since the 1990s, the complex has been empty and threatened with demolition. Life returned to the building only in 2016 with the student residence project Campus Palace; however, the larger part of the complex remained empty and continued to deteriorate.

Antracit acquired 100 percent of the business shares from the previous owners - Palace Holding, Havlický Holding, and Campus Palace. The Antracit group will thus also take over the operation of the student housing Campus Palace, which will continue unchanged. The renovated parts of the complex are expected to create synergy with the existing ones.

"We believe that we will build on the history, on the original architectural concept, but at the same time, we will develop it. From the street, we see some building, but there are also relatively large parts in the courtyard area of the property. The transaction also includes parking, which we see from Karolina; that is also a development area where something could still be built in the future," Bajgarová said.

According to her, the group will want to preserve and restore historical parts in the interior spaces wherever possible. "We are working with the idea that the front area will be in the historical, original solution, and we will remove that insensitive reconstruction," said the director.

Tomáš Macura, the financial manager of the Antracit group, said that they had been preparing the transaction for almost 18 months. "We are financing the acquisition through a combination of a bank loan from Komerční banka and the own resources of the Purposia Group holding," Macura said.

Now, for about a quarter of a year, the group will be preparing the exact construction program and architectural designs. A total of at least 5,500 square meters of leasable space should be created, including 3,600 square meters for residential housing and the rest for commercial use, including a sufficient number of parking spaces.

The international Antracit group provides comprehensive development services, and its portfolio includes residential construction, logistics, industrial and administrative buildings, and complexes in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Purposia Group is a European investment group that was formed in 2023 as a holding structure around construction companies HSF System in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and other companies. It deals with the entire life cycle of construction projects from design and development to construction and property management. The holding currently includes 37 companies with annual revenues exceeding four billion crowns, including HSF System and Antracit, as well as SK Facility, which provides complete property management and maintenance, Pruniwerk, which specializes in glazed aluminum facades and roof skylights, and Czech prefabricated manufacturer Prefa ONV. Purposia Group operates in ten countries across Europe.