Everything about Ekonomka in the center of Ostrava: the value of the building, details of the sale and possible interested parties

Currently, EKF’s facilities are made up of two buildings in the historic center of the city – the main, almost iconic building on Sokolská třída, and also a second, half-sized building closer to the river on Havlíčková nábřeží. The college will sell both buildings and move to modern facilities in Poruba.

“We are getting ready to sell, but the auction will only start after the move. We will put both buildings in the city center up for public auction,” she told Deník earlier spokesperson of VŠB-TUO Petra Halíková.

The old building of the Faculty of Economics VŠB-TUO on Sokolská třída in the center of Ostrava.Source: Diary/Veronika Holaňová

This raises the question of what will happen to the buildings in the lucrative location. The city shows no interest in state property. “As a city, we will not interfere in any way with the sale of the buildings of the Faculty of Economics. VŠB-TUO must conduct the auction transparently in the tender process, because it is state property. We cannot enter into it and determine the conditions for them. We certainly won’t even want to buy buildings as a city, but I believe they will find their use,” he told Deník the mayor of Ostrava Jan Dohnal (ODS).

The court showed interest only briefly

In the past, the District Court in Ostrava, which is located in Poruba, showed interest in the better-known of the two buildings, which would create a kind of judicial boulevard in the city center, but the interest was dropped. “Yes, this option was considered, but it is no longer relevant,” informed the Deník judge and spokesperson of the District Court in Ostrava, Dalibor Zecha, at the very end of last year, when it was already clear that 1,400 students and 300 employees of EKF would leave the city center.

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The question is how many interested parties will be found. Although it is a lucrative address, the buildings are beginning to show the ravages of time. That is also why VŠB-TUO asked the city to support and promote sales, for example, to include them in the portfolio at investment fairs. “Nothing specific has been agreed,” Halíková specified.

The negotiations have not yet reached the official stage. “We only discussed with the VŠB-TUO bursar whether it would be possible to support the sale in some way. Subsequently, we told the university that they had to prepare detailed documents for the buildings so that they could be placed on the market and presented. We have finished at this point for the time being,” Hana Tichánková (ANO), the Deputy Mayor of Ostrava for Strategic Development and Spatial Planning, described behind-the-scenes developments.

What is the value of the buildings?

The approximate amount for which it would like to sell the buildings, the university has undoubtedly already calculated, the exact value of the property will have to be determined by an appraiser in an expert opinion. The newspaper has now approached two real estate agencies with the question of what the indicative value of the buildings can be. He got one answer.

“For these specific properties, it is not entirely easy to determine the market price,” said Jan Nováček, Ostrava regional director of M&M reality. “If I base it on the prices of properties that are sold in the vicinity and are similar to these objects in certain parameters, the price would be somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 crowns per square meter,” he told Deník Nováček, adding that for a more relevant determination of the market price it would be necessary to add more information about the condition of the buildings and their details.

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Based on the information provided by M&M reality (when calculating with the middle value, i.e. 45 thousand crowns per square meter), it could be market price of the building on Sokolská street (2198 square meters according to data from the real estate cadastre, editor’s note) about 99 million crowns. A smaller building on Havlíčková nábřeží (1,088 square meters) would cost roughly 49 million crowns.

For comparison, in 2020, Ostrava sold the land “Slza” in Karolina, on which the highest skyscraper in the country is to be built, for a similar amount to what, according to M&M reality, the main building of EKF may have. The land has an area of ​​eight thousand square meters.

University again?

Possible applicants will have to take into account the future use of the buildings territorial plan cities. “If the worst were to happen, VŠB would not have to sell the building. We will talk about the options, but we cannot dictate anything to them. But there is no reason to worry too much. If I overdo it and someone appears who wants to turn it into a dormitory, it will not be in accordance with the regional plan and the owner will not be able to approve the buildings,” said Mayor Dohnal, according to whom it would be ideal if the buildings continued to serve as an educational facility.

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“We have some information that some private colleges are interested in the buildings, and that’s exactly what we want,” Dohnal mentioned. With these considerations, the former University of Business and Law in Ostrava-Michálkovice is theoretically among the potential applicants. After the transformation, it is now a new private faculty Pan-European universities, which expects further development to up to 1,500 students in Ostrava alone, so it is obvious that a new, larger facility would suit the university. For more than a week, the newspaper repeatedly inquired whether the university would be interested in the real estate, but it was not possible to obtain a statement from the rector or other leading representatives of the faculty when asked directly.

What are the possible other options? “The buildings could also serve as facilities for some central state institution, we will oppose these plans. I believe that someone will be found,” added Dohnal, who expects a worthy future owner and use.