Prague will not buy its headquarters in Jindřiška Street from the Czech Post

Prague will not buy its main building in Jindřišská Street from the Czech Post. According to the city, there is not enough space there for the needs of the municipality and modernising the building would be too expensive. The Prague City Hall said this in a press release today. By selling the property, the post office is trying to stabilise its economy. In an earlier tender for the purchase of the main building in Jindřišská Street with a starting price of CZK 1.538 billion, no bidders appeared at the end of last year. Czech Post spokesman Matyáš Vitík said today that the post office is still counting on the sale of the main building and is now analysing the options.

Interested parties had until 20 December to register for the tender to buy the post office building in Jindřišská Street, otherwise they could not submit envelopes with bids. At the beginning of January, the post office announced that no bidders had signed up. Prague's management, which had previously expressed interest in several of the offered post office buildings, had the opportunity to match the highest bid in the tender for the post office's headquarters in the city centre. However, the city announced today that it can no longer bid for the building.

"This is primarily due to the lack of space for the office while keeping the Czech Post office in the building, but also due to the unsatisfactory layout or the fact that all the requirements for building security are not met," said Vít Hofman, a spokesman for the municipality.

According to him, the total floor area of the building in Jindřišská Street is comparable to the current premises of the office, but after deducting the area needed for the post office, the remaining part of the building is insufficient for the municipality. According to the city spokesman, it was only after a detailed study of the tender documentation that the shortcomings in the layout of the building for the needs of the municipality became apparent. The extent of the modifications required for modernisation and the associated costs exceed the original assumptions. According to Hofman, the layout of the building also makes it impossible to prevent the intermingling of individual operations and the necessary security measures cannot be ensured.

"Our intention to sell the entire property is still on track. We are analysing some other options on how to sell the building," said Vitík, a spokesman for the post office. "It's not something we have to rush into. As far as finances are concerned, we are not dependent on whether or not we sell the building in any short time frame," he added.

Source: CTK
Photo: Wikipedia