The Serbian Property Directorate announced that it has signed the contract to sell the building complex of the former Federal Ministry of Interior with representatives of the Swiss-owned Private Project Management (PPM). The complex was sold for EUR 34.5 million.
Zarko Pavlovic, the General Manager of PPM for Serbia and the Balkans, stated that the company would pay the full price of the complex within 30 days and that, immediately after the payment, it would submit a request for a building permit with the authorities of Belgrade.
He explained that the building would not be torn down, but renovated and converted into a business centre and that the company would build a hotel with 300 to 400 rooms where the laboratories and the garage were previously located.
He added that if the company is able to buy off a building in Sarajevska Street in the vicinity of the building complex of the former Federal Ministry of Interior, it would build a shopping mall there and it would also invest into an underground garage with 1,000 parking spaces to be used by lease holders and hotel guests.
He added that the value of the entire investment would be between EUR 100 million and EUR 150 million and that the state made a good deal, as it sold the complex at a good price and selected the right strategic partner.
The winner of the third tender for the sale of the complex, the Austrian Soravia Invest, bid EUR 35.05 million in the tender. At a later point the Property Directorate found it had no building permit, as a result of which Soravia was disqualified.