The City Hall is selling the land under the Dock restaurant to Lotus Center,…

Without any comments, with 22 votes in favor and 3 abstentions, the Oradea City Council approved, on Thursday, a real estate deal between the City Hall and the company Lotus Center SA, owned by the businessman Alexandru Mudura jr.

The municipality is selling the company the 375 square meter plot of land next to the St. Ladislaus Bridge and on which the Dock Bistro&Bar restaurant is located, including a terrace. This land was concessioned by the Lotus Center in 2014, following an auction organized by the City Hall, which also aimed to build the public catering establishment.

Land in the navel of the fair

Work on the restaurant began in 2018 and was completed in 2020. Then, Bihor revealed that the investment blatantly violates the project that the City Hall had announced for this area of ​​land. In 2013, the municipality organized an international architecture competition for the development of the area, following which a proposal was selected that aimed to create a square that would also have a small premises, of 90 square meters and with a terrace of 170 square meters.

The winner of the City Hall tender was Lotus Center SA, which offered a royalty of 230 lei/sqm and promised an investment of 2.2 million lei (without VAT). However, immediately after signing the contract with the City Hall, the company requested to modify the project (photo below)on the grounds that a 260 square meter premises is too small to amortize the investment.

Without publicly announcing it, the municipality agreed, and the result was that instead of an “airy” square, as Oradea’s mayors had announced they wanted, the private investor built a two-story restaurant.

Now, the City Hall is abandoning the 25-year concession contract, which was valid until September 30, 2039, and, following a request made by the Lotus Center company in March of this year, is selling the land to the private company.

The price was fixed at 318,750 euros, that is 850 euros/m2, without VAT, money that will be paid in one installment. The amount was established following the report drawn up by an authorized appraiser.

Partners and of… conflict

This is not the first real estate deal between Oradea City Hall and Lotus Center SA. In 2015, the company bought a 10,000 sq m plot of land from the municipality, located between Nymphaea Aquapark and Dinamo Strip, committing to modernize the unfinished motel on that site or erect a new construction.

The investor then expressed his intention to build a hotel that would be “connected” to the aquapark through a closed walkway. In 2019, he obtained from the Ministry of Finance a state aid of 22.13 million lei for the total investment of 72.39 million lei in building the hotel.

However, Lotus Center limited itself to building a modest event hall and abandoned the hotel plan, which is why it came into conflict with Oradea City Hall, which penalized the company for not fulfilling its contractual obligation. The company claims that, through the construction, it has fulfilled its obligations, while the municipality claims that it must build a hotel that also includes an event hall.

The conflict between the two parties is taking place in the courtrooms, where so far the courts have ruled both in favor of the City Hall and in favor of the company. A final sentence is expected from the Oradea Court of Appeal, where the trial is to begin.