Unearthing the profitable property skeleton in Kraków's closet
At 90 meters, it is the tallest building in the city, but it is little more than the bare bones of a would-be skyscraper, located at Rondo Mogilskie in Kraków. It's owned by Centrala Węglowa Węglozbyt, which wants to sell the edifice and has put a whopping zł.16.5 million price tag on it. This is still a significant decrease on the zł.24.2 million asked for in 2003.
This is not the first time the edifice has been on the market. Originally, it was to be the headquarters of the Polish Federation of Engineering Associations (NOT). In 1968 an architectural competition was organized and Zdzisław Arct, Ewa Dworzak and Krzysztof Leśnodorski won.
Construction began in 1975 and as it was one of the first such ventures in Poland, there were few builders with experience at this scale on site. An appropriate crane couldn't be found in Poland and one was eventually transported from France. Work on raising the steel construction lasted four years and by 1979 24 floors were built by Mostostal.
However, it wasn't just building problems that hampered the project. The financial and political crisis in the 1980s blocked construction and it wasn't until the 1990s, when the skeleton caught the eye of a French hotel chain, that there was some light at the end of the tunnel. But the land's opaque legal status and misunderstandings with City Hall led to a French retreat, and some suggested simply covering it with a poster.
At the end of the 1990s Węglozbyt obtained the building and the plot as a debt payoff. It attempted to sell off the structure but almost went bankrupt in the meantime, and potential investors withdrew from the deal hoping to get the Skeleton at a cheaper price from a trustee in bankruptcy proceedings.
The building is in a curious position as it is too expensive to demolish, but will need serious investment to put profitable flesh on its bones. In 2003 the President of the City wanted to give the construction to the Academy of Economy, but nothing came of it. Hopefully some canny investor can finally put the pieces of this bony problem together 30 years after it was first dug up.
