Ostrava - The city of Ostrava will withdraw from the contract for the sale of land in Dr. Edvard Beneš Square, which it entered into with the company Amádeus Real nearly ten years ago. This was approved today by the city council members.
The company Amádeus Real wanted to build a multifunctional shopping center on the land in the city center. However, in 2012 it withdrew from the purchase agreement after the central city district Moravská Ostrava and Přívoz did not grant consent for the construction. The district granted consent only later. The city did not recognize the withdrawal from the contract. The purchase price for the land exceeded 83 million crowns, but the developer only paid part of it.
Currently, there are two legal disputes regarding the land, which complicate any modifications to the square. In the so-called major dispute, last October the appellate panel of the Regional Court in Ostrava dismissed the lawsuit from Amádeus Real, which demanded 1.5 billion crowns from Ostrava for a thwarted investment. The ruling is final. However, the company has filed a further appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court.
Ostrava's Mayor Tomáš Macura (ANO) stated that the city decided to withdraw from the contract based on the ruling of the regional court. "It follows from it that the purchase agreement between Amádeus Real and the city of Ostrava is still valid, although Amádeus Real disputed it. So we have evidence given by the ruling, that is the first thing. Secondly, it is irrefutable that Amádeus Real will no longer implement the originally planned project and certainly will not realize it by 2019," said the mayor. The deadline for building the center was one of the conditions of the contract.
"The city can and has exercised its right to withdraw from the contract today. What this will mean procedurally going forward will be shown in the coming days. However, we proceed from the fact that these are significant and historically valuable plots of land in the city center, which the city should utilize in the future," Macura said. He added that he would like to initiate a design competition that would generate ideas for the use of the land. The competition could be announced in the second quarter of this year.
Ostrava councilors this week decided on the appeal in the second legal dispute pending at the Municipal Court in Prague. In this dispute, the city is suing Amádeus Real for the outstanding payment of the purchase contract and related fees. This amounts to 82 million.
"The Municipal Court in Prague initially suspended this case during the major legal dispute. Now we believed that the case would be resolved. However, we received a court ruling that the dispute is suspended again because Amádeus Real filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. But that appeal has no suspensive effect; the ruling is final, so we believe there is no reason for the suspension, and we filed an appeal," the mayor stated.
The plots of land in Dr. Beneš Square are in close proximity to the former fashion house Ostravica-Textilia, which has been decaying since 2000 when ceilings collapsed during an unauthorized reconstruction. The historical buildings were acquired by Amádeus Real in 2007. It wanted to make them a part of a multifunctional commercial complex. After disputes with the district and the city, it sold the historical buildings.
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