Ostrava is considering whether to buy the unfinished building in the city center

According to him, the building is owned by a foreign owner originally from Italy. In the past, there were plans to construct residential units there, but the project failed. "With the skeleton, we are currently at the stage where we have commissioned a feasibility study that is supposed to answer one question: whether we as a city are able to utilize that building in some way," Riger stated.

He mentioned that parking situation in the area is quite poor, which must be taken into account. "We cannot create new parking spaces here, and we need to adapt the utilization to that. We can imagine using it either for young people for low-cost starter apartments, or possibly for healthy older citizens who would be able to live there. Part of that space could be used, for example, for medical offices," Riger said.

According to city officials, the property owner is willing to negotiate on a potential sale. "But first, we need to know whether there is interest on our side," the deputy mayor stated.

He reminded that there are several similarly problematic buildings in the regional capital. The city has similarly addressed the fate of the reinforced concrete skeleton opposite the House of Culture of the City of Ostrava, which was successfully sold in the past, but the then-owner did not build for a long time. Eventually, the company began to complete the building, but the construction did not progress according to the agreed timelines. Subsequently, a new company took over and is now completing the project. According to Riger, this construction should be finished by autumn. "Of course, there are many blemishes on the beauty of the city. We are trying to address them systematically," Riger added.