When the last soldiers and officers of units of the former Soviet Army were leaving the barracks and residential estates in Trzebień, Bolesławiec municipality, it seemed that the housing needs of Polish families from the area of the town and municipality who were waiting for their own apartments could be met quickly and fully.
Life proved brutal. The soldiers and officers leaving the barracks and apartments caused devastation. The rest, perhaps the more destructive part, was done by “our own people.” It turned out that good intentions alone were not enough to move into these homes. Money, quick decisions and sensible concepts were needed.
There were particularly few concepts for adapting these homes for residential purposes. The State Treasury, represented by the District Office, was most favorable toward the concept of converting these homes into municipal apartments.
For primarily economic reasons, neither the Municipal Council nor the Town Council supported this concept.
The Municipal Council initiated the establishment of the “Trzebień” Housing Cooperative from a list of potential future tenants of these apartments.
Today, from the perspective of just under three years, it can be said that this was a successful initiative, thanks to which it was possible to save the residential estate from destruction and develop it.
Thanks to the considerable financial effort and personal involvement, as well as the labor of our Cooperative members, supported by partial financial assistance from the Governor’s budget and the Bolesławiec Municipal Council, 230 families currently have their own cooperative-owned M-3 or M-4 apartments.
If some “lost officer” or former Soviet Army soldier saw “his” apartment, he probably would not believe his own eyes and would not recognize the place where he had lived.
This is precisely what we managed to achieve here, in our municipality, and what others may not have managed to do. This is something we can perhaps be proud of; it is something we should not be ashamed of.
People want to live in this estate, called “Forest” (after its beautiful landscape). More and more people are asking about apartments in the estate.
It was with them in mind that the Management Board of the “Trzebień” Cooperative undertook the pioneering task of adapting further barracks blocks for residential purposes.
There is a chance that around 150 more families will soon join the members of the “Trzebień” Housing Cooperative.
This article is about those who created the history and present of this cooperative and continue, with determination, to create a better future for it.
At the beginning of its existence, in December 1992, the “Trzebień” Housing Cooperative took over four residential buildings, including three “Leningrad”-type buildings and one “Bolesławiec”-type building, a boiler house, a wastewater treatment plant, a water intake, a post office building and a retail pavilion, together with land covering a total area of 5.77 hectares. The property left by the Soviet Army required comprehensive renovation and modernization, which prompted the Cooperative to undertake work involving the reconstruction of apartments, construction of new external and internal utility networks, replacement of roof coverings, insulation of walls, installation of sanitary facilities, electrical, heating and sewage systems, replacement and renovation of woodwork, painting and a range of other works required to obtain permits for the buildings’ use in accordance with Polish standards and construction law.
At the same time, modernization work was carried out on the boiler house and wastewater treatment plant (designed as environmentally friendly facilities), as well as on the water intake.
The investment cycle lasted only eight months, and in December 1993 the Cooperative began allocating 231 apartments in the newly established “Forest Estate,” with a total usable area of approximately 12,230 square meters.
The apartments were allocated in shell condition, so the tenants were forced to carry out the finishing work.
The total cost of renovating the residential buildings and infrastructure amounted to more than 26 billion old zlotys. The work was financed by the tenants, with a 3-billion-zloty grant from the Voivodeship Fund for Environmental Protection and a contribution of approximately 1 billion old zlotys from Bolesławiec Municipality, allocated for technical infrastructure needed to provide utilities to the primary school neighboring the estate, which was being modernized at a cost of approximately 7 billion old zlotys and included a gymnasium. It would be the finest school in Bolesławiec municipality.
Commercial and service activity was launched in the estate: two grocery stores, an industrial goods store, a bakery, a florist, a food and vegetable kiosk, a newsstand, a hairdressing salon, a video cassette rental shop, and construction began on 116 garages.
Land covering more than 13 hectares was also purchased. Four hectares were allocated for garden plots, while the remaining area is planned for the future construction of approximately 70 single-family homes.
This exceptionally broad range of work, completed in a relatively short time, encouraged the Cooperative’s Management Board to acquire and expand its housing stock further.
At the end of last year, the Cooperative purchased, for the symbolic price of one zloty, a further four one- and two-storey barracks buildings from the municipality’s municipal housing stock, with the intention of converting them into apartments.
Demolition work and the preparation of technical documentation for adapting and modernizing the buildings are currently underway. Approximately 150 one-, two- and three-room apartments are planned, with a hall, kitchen, bathroom, loggia and pantry, for the 46 members registered with the Cooperative who are waiting for apartments, as well as for new applicants, whose recruitment is still ongoing. The Cooperative is waiting for new applicants. The lists are open.
The apartments have been designed with equipment similar to that in the units on the existing “Forest Estate” (central heating with heat thermostats in the apartments, hot water supplied centrally from an environmentally friendly boiler house fired by heating oil, cold water, individual water meters for hot and cold water, and electricity). To limit the amount of finishing work future tenants would have to carry out themselves, the Cooperative intends to complete a larger scope of interior work, including the distribution of water and sewage installations, installation of the top layer of floor screeds, painting the apartment, woodwork and heating installation.
The apartments will be allocated exclusively under cooperative ownership rights to the premises. The estimated cost per square meter of usable apartment area has been set at PLN 350 (3.5 million old zlotys).
Additional attractions for future residents of this estate should include its distance of approximately 12 km from Bolesławiec, the village’s location on the national road toward Zielona Góra, its proximity to the western border, the possibility of opening manufacturing, commercial and service businesses in the former Soviet facilities in the village, and, at the same time, the estate’s location among greenery. All those interested in acquiring their own apartment will find residential units awaiting occupancy and development at a relatively low price, situated in an attractive location.
Is this possible? You have to see for yourself!
Perhaps it is a joke. Can dreams really come true so easily?