The Budapest Sun Online - Property Guide (original) (raw)

Straddling the tracks

Tam�s S Kiss

Budapest�s District VIII, commonly known as J�zsefv�ros (Joseph�s Town), accepted the Budapest City Council�s urban rehabilitation program in 1998, which called for stepping up the modernization of one of the most densely populated and poorest districts of the capital.
"The main goal of the rehabilitation plan is to improve living conditions for the locals, both physically and socially," said L�szl� Bal�zs, 60, chief architect of District VIII.
J�zsefv�ros has not always looked so neglected. The district was once a thriving working-class area. Many novels, most famously P�l utcai fi�k (The boys of P�l Street), showed the vital commercial role that District VIII played in the development of greater Budapest.
The district boasts many libraries, hospitals, museums, universities and colleges and was once home to the renowned Ludovika Military Academy. It also has one of Budapest�s biggest gardens, Orczy kert.
Until the rule of Austro-Hungarian Empress Maria Teresa, J�zsefv�ros was mainly farmland, irrigated by two water canals (today�s M�zeum k�r�t and J�zsef k�r�t). The area was better known for its vineyards, clay mines and rural palaces, hence the name Palota negyed (Palace quarter) for the Downtown part of J�zsefv�ros.
The capital�s main animal trading market was located at what is today K�zt�rsas�g t�r. "J�zsefv�ros won its name in 1877," Bal�zs said. "The St J�zsef Catholic Church was constructed in 1777 and is the historical location around which the district sprung up.
The district is divided into three segments. Palota negyed is characterized by densely clustered apartment buildings, secession-style palaces and public institutions built in the 1800s. It is also the home of the National Museum, E�tv�s L�r�nd University (ELTE) and the medical centers originally called Klinik�k.
Middle J�zsefv�ros started developing rapidly at the turn of the century. This was the home of the small and medium sized entrepreneurs. Sadly, after the Second World War, the development of this area abruptly stopped as the Government nationalized all small companies and forced them to assist with the mass production of State-owned industries. Outer J�zsefv�ros is a multi-purpose area with the national cemetery, the main industrial firms (the former Taurus rubber and tire manufacturing company and the former Ganz-M�vag rail carriage works), the trotting race track and the Keleti and J�zsefv�ros rail stations.
The area also has two major sports grounds, including the MTK soccer stadium where famous rock stars have performed and parts of the film V For Victory were filmed. "The district is indeed a unique mixture," said Bal�zs.
More than 80% of the apartments in the district were built before 1920. "Some of these have not been renovated since the Second World War," said Bal�zs.
Many of the buildings that miraculously survived two wars have now been declared hazards and are finally being pulled down, leaving several vacant lots. "Some of the condemned buildings still stand as there is no money to replace them," he added. "It�s a complex issue and must be solved together with the Budapest City Council," he said.
"There are so many things to be done here I can hardly keep up with them. Even when walking the streets I try to collect all kinds of visual information about the district."
One idea is to have all the condemned structures demolished as soon as possible in a full rehabilitation project that would spur gentrification. Modern, reasonably priced apartment buildings would be built for young managers, artists and intellectuals who prefer living near the city center. "When they get older they would simply move out to the suburbs and sell the apartments to new young tenants," Bal�zs said.
Bal�zs believes that as the suburbs of Budapest fill up, there will be a growing need to build new housing in areas like J�zsefv�ros.
Today, accommodation in the area is among the cheapest in Budapest, though prices can range from Ft30,000 ($115) to Ft300,000 ($1,154) per sq m.
The district has 39,000 apartments of which 14,000 are municipal rental flats. "About 60% of the apartments in J�zsefv�ros have no more than 1.5 rooms (about 35 sq m)," said Bal�zs. About 40% of the total have only one room and 20% lack the basic amenities.
The priciest residential area in District VIII is known as Tisztvisel�telep, where high-ranking Government officials once lived.
In 1997 together with the Budapest City Council J�zsefv�ros set up a joint venture company called R�v VIII Rt to organize and carry out the rehabilitation of the district.
The first project has been completed and resulted in the renewal of the inner part of the district. The second part of the plan, called the Corvin Project, will deal with the middle part of the district in three stages. The Ft12 billion project ($48 million) will include the demolition of several apartments on 12 blocks and the renewal of infrastructure. Bal�zs said the aim of these projects is to change the negative image of the district, which has seen a growing prostitution and crime problem since the change of regimes in 1989.
J�zsefv�ros acts as the heart of Budapest, with the main traffic pumping through Baross utca, R�k�czi and �ll�i �t. Anyone rushing to Ferihegy airport can see its beautiful but rather neglected buildings along three kilometers of �ll�i after K�lvin t�r. All modern development in J�zsefv�ros has been at the junctions of its three ring roads and three radiating arteries.
District VIII is home to the city�s first post-Communist office complex, the East-West Business Center, built in 1991. Office construction has been kind to the district and over the past five years Baross utca between K�lvin t�r and J�zsef k�r�t has developed dramatically.
By the end of the year the short strip on Baross utca will boast four office complexes. Two on K�lvin t�r will share an underground garage and provide a combined 10,000 sq m office space on 0.2 hectares. "Because of its historical surroundings the building on M�zeum utca 3, opposite the National Museum, can only be rebuilt leaving the original facade intact," Bal�zs said.
"It should have been renovated much earlier but now it will have to be demolished." The stalled M4 metro was slated to have four stops in the district, at K�lvin t�r, R�koczi t�r, N�psz�nh�z utca and Baross t�r (Keleti railway station).
Pending construction projects along the northern boundary of the district include a supermarket and service center called Hung�ria Passage on 0.7 hectares on the corner of Kerepesi �t and Hung�ria k�r�t by Lab-Com Bevas�rl�k�zpont Kft, Bal�zs said.
A mega-mall and recreation center, with a public park and open-air theater, is planned by French company Bouygues Hung�ria Kft on 20 hectares.
"There are plans for a hotel at Baross t�r near the Keleti railway station," Bal�zs said. The Hungarian State railway company M�v has filed plans for the Keleti railway station to be reconstructed to house multilevel underground parking and other passenger facilities. He added that an Italian investor had purchased the former Pallas Hotel on R�koczi �t and plans to open it again soon. At Blaha Lujza t�r, a German investor hopes to reconstruct the the former Press House into a colossal office building and convert the Corvin department store across the road into a shopping mall.
Along the middle of the district from west to east a row of business centers have sprung up. Plans for a office and hotel complex on Baross utca ending at the Orczy Forum have been filed. A development consisting of six residential buildings and two office towers is nearing completion by the J�zsefv�ros railway station.
Baross road has new lighting and a layer of new asphalt over the romantic but more dangerous cobble-stone section.
Still, more than 50% of the district is badly in need of renovation. Unless these dilapidated buildings are soon replaced, the district may find itself nursing an unwanted slum. "The rehabilitation program is to slow down and reverse the growing trend of decaying living standards of J�zsefv�ros life," said Bal�zs. "We must strive to improve living conditions and utilize the district�s innovative advantages to boost economic potential," he said. "When we have achieved these then Budapest can rightfully say it is a capital of the world," he said.