Agrostav will not convert the former Perla office building in Ústí nad Orlicí into flats

Agrostav has withdrawn from its plan to convert the former Perla 01 office building in Ústí nad Orlicí into flats and commercial premises. In 2021, it concluded a contract with the town on the basis of a tender for the future purchase of the building for CZK 6.2 million, but after evaluating all the circumstances, it found that the investment would not be profitable. It would only make sense to demolish the original building and build a completely new one, announced Mayor Petr Hájek (Oušťáci association).

"There were milestones in the contract for when the project documentation and building permits had to be submitted in order for the contract to become a purchase agreement and for the land registry to be overwritten. Unfortunately, Agrostav did not meet this milestone on the grounds that the economic analysis showed that the plan to build 31 residential units plus commercial premises as part of the reconstruction was not economically viable and that it would only be based on the assumption that the building would be demolished in whole or in part. However, the regulatory plan does not allow for this, so they withdrew from the plan," Hájek said.

The company is still interested in the land with the building, he said. The project would be redesigned, but the regulatory plan would have to be changed to allow the building to be demolished. Currently, the future purchase agreement has been terminated. "We are at the beginning again and we have to decide in the council whether we will change the regulatory plan and launch a new tender for the sale of the building, or we will not change the plan and we will seek a new investor in the tender, who would enter into it with the risk that the reconstruction will be financially demanding," Hájek said.

The former Perla 01 textile factory was located on more than three hectares near the city centre. The city bought the site for CZK 30 million in 2011. Two years later, the town hall announced an architectural competition, then issued a regulation plan, and in 2017 and 2018 demolished the production halls and other buildings that occupied more than 80 percent of the area. The city wants to keep only a small part of the area, building a Children and Youth House on the site for CZK 85 million excluding VAT, a former boiler room, a machine shop and part of the administrative building to be converted into a contemporary art gallery with a reference to the city's textile history. The Pardubice Region wants to build studios for a secondary school of arts and crafts on part of the former factory site. Ústí has also sold a plot of land on the site, on which a private company has built a rehabilitation centre with a clinic.

Source: CTK
Photo: janproksa.com