Praha 7 and the state want to buy the same house for almost 300 million

Prague - Prague 7 and the Ministry of Labor want to buy the same building in Letná for nearly 300 million crowns for their purposes. Both authorities will discuss this on Wednesday. The ministry wants to buy the former headquarters of the Economia publishing house for the management of the labor office, but the city district has been negotiating for several months over the same building. It would like to establish its new headquarters there. Prague 7 has therefore called an extraordinary council meeting. It wants to discuss whether the offer to purchase the building for the city district is still valid. Martin Vokuš, a spokesman for the city hall, told ČTK.
    According to the materials for the government meeting, the Ministry of Labor wants to buy the building for 299 million crowns. It wants to relocate the management of the office, two contact workplaces, a call center, and a training center into it.
    However, the city district of Prague 7 is also interested in the building. For several years, it has been looking for a new headquarters for its town hall. It has already had expert assessments made for the purchase of this building. According to Vokuš, the preparations for the purchase of the building have already reached the final phase, and the city district management wanted to present the relevant proposal to the councilors. At present, however, the city hall reportedly does not know if the offer is still valid. Prague 7 wanted to pay 275 million for the property. However, in the meantime, another owner bought the building, which, according to available information, cost them 140 million crowns.
    Due to the situation, the city district management convened an extraordinary council meeting for Wednesday morning. The only agenda item is the purchase of shares in the company Alkatria, which owns the building. According to Vokuš, the councilors are to meet to find out if the several-month-old offer is still valid.
    According to opposition councilor Ondřej Mirovský (Green Party), the councilors did not receive any materials for Wednesday's meeting by Tuesday afternoon and do not know exactly what will be discussed. "In my eight years of working in Prague 7, I am used to a lot, but I have never encountered anything like this," noted Mirovský. "Moreover, the whole intention to purchase the Economia building through a joint-stock company with unknown owners is very suspicious," he added.
    The city district's lease for the building on Kapitána Jaroše embankment ends in 2015. They want to move before that. However, there have been turbulent discussions around the choice of the headquarters for several months. The original plans included an investment of about a billion. Both local residents and the opposition opposed the intention. They ultimately expressed their will in a referendum, which, despite the disapproval of coalition councilors from ODS and ČSSD, was announced by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS). If councilors buy the building on Wednesday, according to Mirovský, they will violate the result of the referendum. In such a case, he would turn to the court, he told ČTK.
    However, the Ministry of Labor has also had assessments made on the five-story building, which is probably closer to purchase at present. Experts valued the building at 300 to 310 million crowns. The ministry intends to finance the acquisition of the office building from European funds from the operational program for employment and social services for the years 2009 to 2014.
    The management of the labor office is currently in three buildings - in the Ministry of Labor building on Karlovo náměstí and in rented premises in Emauzy and Kartouzská. The call center operates in Vysočany, and its space is rented by the Czech Social Security Administration.