Given the current state of the economy and the way public tenders tend to work in Hungary this isn’t a huge shocker, but it’s still sort of interesting. Up in Budapest’s District IV (Újpest), the local government recently held a tender for anyone interested in opening and managing a restaurant in the historic municipal headquarters, which is itself in the middle of a very ambitious urban renewal project. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much interest!
According to stop.hu, which picked up the story from MTI, the local council is having to launch a second tender for the space, after only one bidder showed up for the first. And that one may not have been such a charmer; the first Google result for the company in question (CONSTRUM Beruházó és Kivitelező Kft) is for a page on feketelista.hu “blacklist.hu,” a subscription-only website about dodgy goings-on in the local business world.
The district hopes renovation of its main square and the new restaurant will boost tourism. The restaurant and its kitchen would occupy 240 square meters of the 800-sqm basement, and have lots of open-air seating in summer. (The pics above, which we assume are of the spaces in question, are from ujestifoter.hu, a site dedicated to the renovations.)
In the odd chance that you are interested in making a bid for the joint, note that applicants need to have had an average of at least Ft 90 million (€340,000) in turnover over the past three years, and that the deadline for the next round is May 25.
