May the 25th, 2023 – Remember the so-called ”Mini Manhattan” project that many people in Zagreb were once talking about? Well, while it isn’t as much in the media as it once was, it hasn’t been shelved. There are several other large Zagreb projects also in the works.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, after sitting more or less forgotten about in a (probably) dusty drawer for years, the Paromlin city library project has now finally been revived. The City of Zagreb has started purchasing real estate and land adjacent to where the future complex will be. With this new ambitious project, a completely new block will be formed that will change the vision of the City of Zagreb as we’ve come to know it. This is exactly what Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic marked out as the main project in his mandate, as reported by HRT.
Collapsed walls, collapsed floors and burnt beams that passers-by saw every day are finally set to enter the history books after being an eyesore for around 35 years. For the ambitious plan to build a new social and cultural centre of Zagreb, the city plans to announce a tender for public procurement as early as June, and construction work will begin at the end of the year.
“It’s a matter of reconstruction, extension, i.e. a replica of the wing that fell and a modern glass extension in the rest of this space,” said Luka Korlaet, Zagreb’s deputy mayor.
The current plan is to purchase the surrounding land and buildings in order to make the future library representative. However, no one has called the fifteen tenants in the nearby Koturaska Street to discuss it and ask questions.
”They came here sixty years ago and told us not to buy wood because they’d have to demolish any construction we put up in the spring, and that’s what every new government says and has been saying since then – we’ll have to demolish it all, but we’re all still here,” said Marijan Lokmic, a local resident.
The plan is allocate a massive 80 million euros for the 30,000 square metres of the new facility, half of which will be coming from European Union (EU) funds. The city plans to secure part of the money for the purchase of private plots with the new budget revision. Negotiations are underway, they say, and are only intensifying.
”This process isn’t going to be a smooth one. The city can purchase the land at the price estimated by the court expert and what is confirmed by the appraisal commission, so there’s no negotiation, no haggling. I hope that there will be understanding because these prices are realistic and the City of Zagreb has good intentions, this is all about the common good, the public good. We want to complete the City of Zagreb, we want to arrange all this and create a more modern Zagreb,” said Luka Korlaet when referencing upcoming Zagreb projects.
The city administration hopes for a future modern library, an underground garage, halls, and even a brand new square. The last big project, the Zagreb (Sljeme) cable car, divided the people of Zagreb due to the large amount of work which needed to be carried out, and also the issue of it being considered ”Milan Bandic’s legacy” never faded away. The profession believes that there should be a consensus for large and expensive Zagreb projects, and fortunately, the future Paromlin library has it.
“This is a step forward that Croatia must start working on in all areas, including here in Zagreb. We have to direct ourselves towards large Zagreb projects that have significantly greater financial requirements and come out of one four-year mandate. Without such projects, there’s going to be no progress for us as a society,” said Tihomil Matkovic, president of the Society of Architects Zagreb.
Paromlin is only the beginning of the revitalisation of the city centre south of the railway line, and the next step, they say from the city administration, will be the opening of the Gredelj project, for which studies are already being carried out and discussions are being prepared with Croatian Railways and various European banks.
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