Znojmo will sign a memorandum with investors who will build a hotel in Louka

Znojmo – Znojmo will sign a memorandum with local investors who are planning to renovate the former officers' pavilion in the area of the Loucký Monastery into a hotel. The optimistic opening date for the large hotel, which is lacking in Znojmo and the surrounding area, is 2030, representatives of the city administration and the investors said today at a press conference. It is a PPP project, where the city will lease the building long-term to private operators who commit to reconstruction and long-term operation. The parties will prepare cooperation agreements after signing the memorandum.

The officers' pavilion was built in the mid-19th century and served the elite Austrian military academy and then the Czechoslovak army until the early 1990s. Since then, the building has been abandoned and deteriorated, especially until 2010, when it was transferred from state ownership to city ownership. The city secured it, cleared it out, and protected it against leaking. The initial estimates for the costs of renovating it into a hotel are 400 million crowns.

The Loucký Monastery area is gradually being repaired and beautified by the city, beginning to come to life. Currently, the former riding hall is being reconstructed, which will become the largest event hall in Znojmo with a capacity of up to 800 people. The hotel is to be another part of the offering for conference tourism or larger groups that have nowhere to stay in one place.

Before the COVID pandemic, the city was in communication with investors from Spain, but the international situation led to a cooling of interest and the termination of negotiations. The current investors are from Znojmo. "We are very pleased that these are people who are already active in the region and have proven results," said Mayor František Koudela (ODS). This includes residential projects in Znojmo, participation in the shopping center, and industrial construction.

According to Jan Semotam, one of the representatives of the investors who formed the company Důstojnický palác, the hotel should have 80 to 90 rooms and common areas such as a restaurant, wellness and fitness zone, wine cellar, or pool. A more precise form will be known based on which hotel chain they reach an agreement with. "We have three serious interested parties," said Semotam's colleague Nikola Smutný. The architectural study is being prepared by the Brno studio Chybik+Kristof.

According to Deputy Mayor Jiří Kacetl (Pro Znojmo), the city has also initiated with the Directorate of Roads and Highways the possibility of a new and better connection to the Loucký Monastery area, as the current one is already inadequate. Access is either from below via the narrow Melkusova Street or from above via Pražákova and Loucká Streets. There is a proposed connection from the intersection of Brněnská and Vídeňská Streets.