Brno railway post office building was bought by Recollect from the Trinity Bank group

The functionalist post office building at the main railway station in Brno was purchased at an electronic auction by Recollect, which is part of the Trinity Bank Financial Group, it was announced. On Monday, the current owner of the building, Česká pošta, confirmed the sale of the building in an electronic auction for CZK 117 million, but did not disclose the name of the auction winner.

"The goal of Recollect, the winner of the electronic auction, is to return this important building to a beautiful functionalist look after the successful purchase of this building," Recollect said.

The company stated that it was not going to convert the building into flats, for example. "The building will be used in accordance with the zoning plan and the future appearance of the site after the station is moved and will be repaired in good condition with respect to functionalism.

Czech Post spokesman Ivo Vysoudil said on Monday that Czech Railways has a pre-emptive right to the building, which will be offered at a price determined by electronic auction. The auction was used to determine the market price of the building. However, Czech Railways spokeswoman Vanda Rajnochová stated in response to a question from ČTK that the railways did not want to buy the building. "Czech Railways has a pre-emptive right to the building because it stands on their land. However, they did not use this offer," said Rajnochová.

The Czech Post has previously stated that the future of the building, designed by architect Bohuslav Fuchs, has been around for a long time because it does not suit its operation, is uneconomical and unnecessarily oversized. Instead of a branch next to the main railway station, the post office plans to open two new branches - one in the Letmo Shopping Center opposite the railway station and one in the Šumavská Tower building in the Královo Pole district. However, the post office will operate in the building near the main railway station at least until the middle of next year.

The owner of the post office buyer, Trinity Bank, has been on the market for 25 years. The main pillars of the bank are the financing of real estate and development projects and the long-term appreciation of money within savings and deposit accounts. The bank used to be a pledge of the Moravian Monetary Institute. The company was founded in 1996 in Zlín and was one of the largest savings cooperatives in the Czech Republic. It received a banking license from the Czech National Bank in mid-December 2018, and was subsequently renamed Trinity Bank.

The station post office, designed by Bohuslav Fuchs, was built at the end of the 1930s as a temporary building. Even then, the relocation of the Brno railway station was being considered, so Fuchs designed a light steel structure for the building so that it could be easily dismantled. A rarity of the building is the paternoster lift, which the post office had repaired in 2013. The building was partially repaired in the 1980s, but currently needs a complete renovation.

Source: CTK