Brno will start the construction of a multifunctional hall for nearly six billion crowns

Brno – The construction of the multifunctional hall Arena Brno, costing almost six billion crowns, will begin today with a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony at the Brno exhibition center near Pavilion Z. The hall is the largest strategic project of the city, with preparations starting in 2019. The hall, which will seat 13,000 spectators, is primarily intended for the hockey team Kometa, but it will also host various events. The city will use a loan of 2.2 billion crowns from Česká spořitelna for the construction. Today's event will also be attended by Prime Minister Petr Fiala.

One of the last steps necessary to initiate the construction was the European Commission's confirmation that the hall can be built with public funding support. The city received this confirmation in July. It will also utilize a subsidy of half a billion crowns. It will receive 300 million from the National Sports Agency and 200 million from the South Moravian Region. The remaining costs must be covered from its own resources, that is, from the budget and loan. When approving the loan by the council, councilor Petr Kratochvíl (ODS) stated that the total amount of 5.76 billion for construction includes a one billion crown reserve. The loan from the savings bank will be repaid by the city until 2050. The interest rate is 4.87 percent, thus the city will pay back the borrowed amount with an additional 1.7 billion crowns.

Brno wanted the hall to be operated by a private entity that would enter into a rental contract with the city and would pay an agreed amount annually. No such entity could be found. Therefore, the city hall decided that operations would be managed by a new city company, Arena Brno, which will hire employees as needed. The opposition has expressed its opposition to the construction of the hall under the current conditions.

The hall is planned to have two underground and six above-ground floors. The built-up area will be almost 16,700 m². The enclosed space will be 475,000 m³. The capacity of the hall will be up to 13,300 seats.