The shareholders of „Makedonija Turist" AD Skopje made a double decision on 22 May: the company will buy a building plot of 8,081 square metres in Novo Lisiche for 17.7 million euros, and at the same time it will sell part of its property - among them, the hotels „Bristol" and „Jadran", together with the restaurant „Pivnica" and several apartments on „Maksim Gorki" street.

On paper it is an economic decision that looks reasonable. „Bristol" and „Jadran" haven't been working for years. They are preserved structures that bring no income, and the sale frees up capital for a new investment with development potential - 34,987 square metres of gross built area for business and residential use. The 17.7 million euros figure equals 28.21% of the company's book value.

But when it comes to Hotel Bristol, „hasn't been working for years" doesn't tell the whole story. Bristol is one of the oldest preserved hotel buildings in Skopje, opened in 1924. Its rooms, in the first decades of the 20th century, hosted guests who came to the city on business, travellers crossing from Thessaloniki to Belgrade, and ordinary Skopje locals for whom it was part of the urban landscape. „Jadran" (also known as the „Arab House") was built between 1936 and 1938 in Arab-Moorish style and - according to relevant sources - holds the status of a protected cultural landmark.

Now comes the question the shareholders aren't answering, but which the city and its historians must ask: what happens to these two buildings after the sale? When a private investor buys a protected cultural landmark, in theory they cannot demolish it - but Skopje's history is full of „incidents" where protections fall, or where a building „accidentally" burns down, and then a glass tower rises in its place. „Hotel Bristol" is not safe even with its status.

„Makedonija Turist" isn't a private business - it's a company with public shares and long-running ties to the state. That means selling these two buildings isn't only a business decision; it's a public decision that demands public justification. Beyond the formal shareholder vote, the public is owed answers: who will the buyer be? What's that buyer's track record with protected cultural buildings? What preservation obligations come with the deal? Without answers to those questions, the sale looks like a first step toward erasing another piece of old Skopje.

Hotel Bristol is 102 years old. Jadran's building isn't as old, but it's 88 - a span that covers two world wars, the 1963 earthquake, and many political shifts. These buildings survived all of that. Now they need to survive a business transfer. That's a paradox many in Skopje already read as a symptom of the city - it trusts history more than it trusts the present.