Liberec has an interested party for the pre-war Simon Villa for 17 million CZK

photo: slavnevily.cz

Liberec - Despite the stagnation of the real estate market, it seems that Liberec will manage to sell the pre-war Simon Villa, which until recently housed an infant institute. The city hall is asking for 17 million crowns and has an interested party willing to accept the price. An additional 15 million will be needed for its reconstruction, according to estimates. Even with the infant institute's presence, many of the original decorations have been preserved in the villa; there were five interested parties, but only one submitted an offer, said Deputy Mayor Jiří Šolc (Liberec to the Citizens) to journalists today. According to him, the buyer wants the villa for residential purposes.
    The villa, located on a large plot between Husova and Bendlova streets, was built in the 1920s. It was designed by architect Franz Radetzky for the then police inspector Adolf Simon. After World War II, it was nationalized and served as an infant institute from 1953. The sale of the valuable half-timbered villa is criticized by the opposition, which would prefer to use it for a kindergarten. However, according to Šolc, the building would need a reconstruction costing at least ten million crowns. The city hall wants to create new places for preschoolers at a lower cost in unused pavilions of primary schools. "Once there are fewer children, it will be possible to use them for after-school care," explained Šolc.
    The city hall has offered this valuable property in a completely new way. The offer was published on the city's website, and the advertisement also appeared in the press. "We are trying to get as much as possible from the sale of our properties, and this is one of the ways. We did not use a real estate agency because it costs money," said Šolc. The city plans to proceed similarly in the sale of other properties and is preparing a revision of the privatization rules. However, it is already publishing the sale of each plot on its website. "We want it to be as transparent as possible," added the deputy.
    The city is already preparing the sale of another large property - it wants to offer part of the Švermova Primary School building, which is rented to the Karel Engliš University. The building is separate, and the city hall is asking for 11 million crowns for it. The city needs every crown as it appears that this year's revenue was planned too optimistically. The collection of income tax from entrepreneurs is lower than expected, and there is a sixteen million shortfall in the collection of property tax, which was overvalued last year. "Even with further cuts, we will probably end this year with a fifty million crown deficit; some things will need to be moved to next year," concluded Šolc.