Thirty interested parties are bidding for the Jindřiška Tower in the centre of Prague, which was offered for sale by the Prague Archbishopric at the end of last year. The Prague City Council has also submitted an offer. The price is expected to be €4.09 million. The archbishopric also decided to sell the Clara Futura hotel in Dolní Břežany for €12.6 million to the investment fund Investika, writes the Czech Press Agency ČTK.
The Prague Archbishopric has received approval from the Vatican to sell the medieval Jindřišská Tower in Prague to the capital. Prague Archbishop Jan Graubner told reporters that the archbishopric wants to sell the tower to Prague for CZK 100 million (€4.09 million). He said he was waiting for the next meeting of the Prague City Council to see if it would approve the sale. Prague City Councillor Adam Zábranský subsequently told ČTK that the capital is now waiting for an expert opinion on the price of the Jindřišská Tower before deciding on a possible purchase. According to him, however, the City of Prague has never made a binding offer to buy the Jindřiška Tower for CZK 100 million. The information that appeared in the media today was described by Prague councillor Zábranský as a fabulation.
According to Graubner, the archbishopric also decided to sell the Clara Futura hotel in Dolní Břežany for CZK 308 million (€12.6 million). The money that the archbishopric is expected to receive from the sale should go to church education. In particular, the Archbishopric plans to reconstruct the Archbishop's Gymnasium for CZK 150 million (€6.137 million) and to build a speech therapy school in Klecany, the cost of which is estimated at CZK 400 million (€16.371 million).
The Archbishopric offered the Jindřiška Tower in the centre of the town for sale at the end of last year. According to the Archbishopric, the tower has no significance for the religious, it is primarily a tourist monument. The sale is part of a streamlining of the church's management in view of the time when it will no longer receive a contribution from the state for its activities. The archbishopric originally offered the tower for sale for CZK 75 million (€3.068 million). There were many bidders, and the archbishopric judged Prague's offer to be the best. The price offered by the capital was one of the highest, Jan Balík, the vicar general of the Prague archbishopric, told ČTK.
According to an earlier statement by the archbishopric, the tower requires an investment of about CZK 30 million (€1.3 million) for repairs. The long-term tenant has appreciated the building, and two decades ago an internal space was built into the tower, on which the individual floors are perched. The monument has long been leased to the Jindřišská věž company. The lease agreement from 2000 was concluded for a definite period until the end of 2044.
The Hotel Clara Futura in Dolní Břežany was created by the reconstruction of the castle, which was the property of the Archbishopric of Prague for almost 300 years until its nationalisation. After restitution, the church got it back in poor condition and renovated it between 2015 and 2018 for CZK 250 million (€10.23 million). The hotel was loss-making. According to the press conference, the hotel is being bought from the archbishopric by the current tenant, the investment fund Investika.
