Developer to build one fewer building in Velká Úpa, but some longtime residents are leaving anyway

While recreational apartments and aparthotels have recently been built on a large scale in the center of Pec pod Sněžkou, Velká Úpa long remained off the radar of investors. Now, however, some longtime residents are leaving because of the future apartment village, moving away and selling their houses. While recreational apartments and aparthotels have recently been built on a large scale in the center of Pec pod Sněžkou, Velká Úpa long remained off the radar of investors. Now, however, some longtime residents are leaving because of the future apartment village, moving away and selling their houses. The Prague-based investment group has been preparing the Rezidence Pod Portáškami project for several years now, which will fundamentally change the center of Velká Úpa. In 2021 it acquired the former Hotel Hela and the Úpa pub, between which the complex will be built. The investor plans to demolish a total of five buildings. The ground floor will house commercial space, a café, and a bistro, with two underground parking levels for 189 cars. „The expected permanent land take will amount to 7,085 square meters, and the built-up area of the residential building including the basement will be 4,522 square meters,“ states the notification of intent, whose environmental impact is being assessed by the authorities. If everything goes according to plan, demolition of the existing buildings should begin this year. „We'd like to expect the building permit to be issued during spring, and demolition work will begin accordingly. Our goal is not to disrupt the main tourist season,“ said Jiří Baumruk, communications director of the Aequitas group.

Seventh building dropped Building the apartment complex will take roughly three years. The budget should come to around one billion crowns. Originally the investor planned to build four buildings with 110 apartments along the main road in Velká Úpa. Later the project was expanded to seven buildings and 172 apartments. The final version is a compromise. „During the design preparation phase, at the request of the town and the owners of neighboring properties, the project was reduced in scale and the number of buildings was cut to six,“ said Jiří Baumruk. „Seven buildings would already have been a lot, and it would have encroached too closely on the cottages standing there. We're glad it was reduced to six buildings. The center of Velká Úpa is in a poor state. The project includes shops as well as doctors' offices. I think it will contribute to the development of Velká Úpa,“ said Pec's mayor Ilona Karlíková (independent, SNK Velká Úpa – Pec). Building projects in Pec pod Sněžkou are running up against the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant, which is at full capacity and can no longer accommodate new connections. This is also a problem for Rezidence Pod Portáškami. „The existing buildings are connected to the treatment plant, but building the apartment complex will of course significantly increase demand on its capacity. The investor has to solve this some other way,“ said Ilona Karlíková. According to the documentation, the project envisages a storage tank as well as a system for recycling and capturing so-called greywater.

Longtime residents are leaving The large-scale investment plan caught the residents of Velká Úpa off guard. Some of them already live elsewhere, others are selling their properties. They don't want to live next to the future apartment village. When Jiří Hintner first saw the project visualization two years ago, he was horrified. One of the planned apartment buildings is to rise right next to his house, behind the former Hotel Hela. He no longer lives there today. „We agreed with the investor that they would take our house, and instead bought us another one in Velká Úpa, which we'll be renovating in the spring so we can move in. It dragged on for two years – we just want some peace,“ said Jiří Hintner. Eva Beranová, who has lived for more than sixty years in the family house next to the dilapidated Úpa pub, is also leaving. That building, like Hela, a former rental shop, and a bowling alley, will make way for apartments, just like the pub. Her house now has a „For Sale“ banner on it. „I've been here since birth, but I want to leave. Do you know what it's going to look like here once construction starts? We were used to peace and quiet. It will never be the same here again,“ Eva Beranová summed up.

The Aequitas group was founded by lawyer and insolvency administrator Jan Langmeier. The investment fund's first major project in the Krkonoše was a 30-apartment building in Herlíkovice near Vrchlabí. The new building was built on the site of the original guesthouse and received final occupancy approval last autumn. At the end of last year, Rezidence Pod Portáškami received the award of the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and Technicians Engaged in Construction. The jury of the 20th edition of the competition praised, among other things, elements leading to energy self-sufficiency: above-standard insulation, geothermal boreholes, solar panels, and the use of greywater. The center of Velká Úpa has already begun to change. In 2021 the town bought the dilapidated Hotel Uran for 20 million crowns, had it demolished, and plans a transfer point on the vacated site. On the other side of the road, next to the parking area, another apartment building is under construction. The five-story building will contain 27 apartments.

Author: Tomáš Plecháč Source: https://www.idnes.cz/…c-zpravy_tuu