In the house in the center of Olomouc, there are 13 city apartments instead of officials

Olomouc - New city apartments were created in Dolní náměstí in the historic center of Olomouc thanks to the renovation of an old building that previously housed municipal officials. After their relocation to a new city hall building, 13 rental apartments, including small-sized ones, were constructed in the building this year. The renovation of the building cost 8.5 million crowns and the first tenants are expected to move in at the beginning of next year.

"Interest in living in the city center is extraordinary even before the completion of the building's renovation. Therefore, I am pleased to note that of all the originally considered options, including commercial use of the space or sale of the building, we were able to push through this one," said Olomouc Mayor Antonín Staněk (ČSSD) to journalists today. He believes that the new rental apartments may contribute to the revitalization of the center of Olomouc.

The renovation of the building began in April and is scheduled to be completed in December according to the contract with the construction company. "Given that the reconstruction has been proceeding very successfully, the construction company has promised to complete the work ahead of schedule by November 30. Therefore, the first tenants could move into the new apartments as early as January 1, 2017," said Deputy Mayor Ladislav Šnevajs (KDU-ČSL).

The area of the new apartments ranges from 32 square meters to 89 square meters. Tenants will pay the city 100 crowns per square meter. The apartments will be allocated using an envelope method, where the new tenants will be decided by the amount of the offered price for signing the lease. The city hall estimated the return on investment for the construction of 13 rental apartments to be 15 to 20 years.

According to the director of the Property Management of Olomouc (SNO) Roman Zelenka, there is great interest in the new city apartments in Dolní náměstí. "We expect more than a hundred interested parties," said Zelenka, who noted that demand for municipal apartments has significantly increased in recent years. "The demand is enormous because people increasingly prefer to live in a municipal apartment rather than with a private landlord. When the city offers an apartment for rent, we have up to 30 interested parties for one apartment," Zelenka stated.

In the early 1990s, there were 16,000 municipal apartments in Olomouc, some of which were returned to their original owners during restitutions. Most of the apartments were sold to tenants. The city currently owns only 1,800 apartments.

The new apartments in Dolní náměstí are built in a historic building that is a listed cultural monument. The city originally wanted to sell the property, but no buyer was found. The building is now on the list of properties that the city hall intends to keep in the coming years. A fruit and vegetable shop and a home goods store will continue to operate on the ground floor of the historic building.