VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski strongly condemned the plan put forward by Skopje Mayor Petre Silegov to demolish the Universal Hall, one of the main concert venues in the capital that was built with donations from across the world after the devastating 1963 earthquake. The dome shaped hall has been closed for several years now and was meant to be fully modernized or even rebuilt under a new design, but the city is now giving up on the idea.

If they want to leave their mark on Skopje they should preserve what was built for the city and not demolish it. The Universal Hall is a symbol of international solidarity. Even if it is not the best solution it is part of the soul of the city, Mickoski said.

The city proposed to build a park with an open air concert stage in front of the hall, and now the proposal is that it is demolished in full, and replaced with a park. Former Mayor Koce Trajanovski and other have warned that the actual idea is more sinister – the large defunct near-by Treska furniture factory is up for development and if recent history is any guide, an extremely dense concentration of buildings is being planned in its place, in order to maximize profits. Citizens are demanding that the Treska development is kept in reasonable proportions, with enough space between the buildings and a park in between. But building a park at the site of the Universal Hall could provide Mayor Silegov with an excuse – that he was able to secure a green space for the citizens, while also satisfying the interests of the developers.

The public was recently informed about a plan to build up to 50 residential buildings at the Treska site. The trade-off may be that the Universal Hall will be sacrificed and turned into a park so that the Treska site receives a much higher development ratio that it would have, Trajanovski said.

In order to sweeten the deal, city officials pledge that they will rebuild the hall, but at a different location, outside of the city, with more parking. The Association of Architects of Macedonia, which was outspoken in its opposition to the urban redevelopment plan initiated by Mayor Trajanovski and the VMRO-DPMNE led Government known as Skopje 2014, today issued a lukewarm press release saying that it would like to see the city preserve the Universal Hall, but that if it is not possible, it could be rebuilt elsewhere.

The high concentration of former activists who protested Skopje 2014 as “killing of the soul of the city” who now populate the Silegov administration, has raised criticism that they are now willing to destroy a major Skopje landmark site after going into hysterics about every single move of under Mayor Trajanovski.

Are you going to hug the Universal Hall or are you all now working in the city administration?, asked musician DJ Panco, in a tongue in cheek comment aimed at Silegov’s staff and supporters who famously organized a human chain around the brutalist GTC shopping mall in downtown Skopje – the hugging of GTC – to prevent a plan to turn it into an enclosed and air conditioned space, in a neo-classical style.