Liberec will begin searching for designers for the construction of 150 apartments in the so-called Paper Square

Winning design of the competitive dialogue 'Liberec – Papírové náměstí', re:architekti, 2022

Liberec - Liberec will announce three contracts in the coming days for the project preparation of the construction of seven buildings with approximately 150 apartments and a parking garage for 300 to 400 cars. The city's hall is preparing the construction in the neglected area known as Papírové náměstí in the lower center. The city management estimates the costs of the project preparation at more than 50 million crowns, and the construction is expected to cost more than one billion crowns. This was stated today by Deputy Mayor Jiří Janďourek (Mayors for the Liberec Region).

"We anticipate the start of construction at the turn of 2027 and 2028," he added.

Papírové náměstí between Soukenné náměstí and the elementary school on Barvířská street is one of the most neglected places in the center of the city with a population of 100,000. There are several owners of the plots in this area, with the city owning the majority. It owns approximately 10,000 square meters. The city's ambition is to transform the area into a creative and residential quarter.

The planned construction of seven apartment buildings and a parking garage is one of the steps towards fulfilling this vision. According to the deputy, the buildings were intentionally divided into three blocks so that more architectural studios could participate in the project preparation. "There are conditions that whoever wins block A cannot win blocks B and C," Janďourek said. The city expects that the housing construction will be more diverse than if it were designed by a single designer.

The city hall wants to have larger apartments in the residential buildings, which will be suitable for families with children. "That means there won't be those today promoted developer apartments like 2+kk, 1+kk," the deputy said. However, he noted that they have not yet decided how the buildings will be constructed. He mentioned that they are considering setting up a non-profit cooperative or construction with state funding or in collaboration with a developer. According to him, a combination of all three options is also possible.

The costs of constructing apartment buildings on Lucemburská, Vrabčí streets, and between Vrabčí and Na Svahu streets are estimated by the city hall at 750 million crowns. The construction of the parking garage at the corner of Františkovská and Na Rybníčku streets is likely to cost an additional 300 to 400 million crowns. The city hall intends to build it on the outskirts of the Papírové náměstí area. It promises that this will allow them to eliminate parking spaces on the streets within this area. Currently, this area is practically one large parking lot.