As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes on the 19th of February, 2020, a year and a half after they rented the summer residence on Smokvica island from the state, which had been used by former Agrokor boss Ivica Todoric and his family for years, the Zelena nekretnina (Green real estate) company knocked on the door of the Ministry of State Property with the idea of ​​allowing it to build new, luxury facilities.

Such an option was not foreseen in the tender and bidding process, in which the real estate investment fund Balansz Zártkörű Nyíltvégű Intézményi Ingatlan Alap, founded by OTP Banka, was selected. More specifically, the tender explicitly provided for the use of existing facilities on Smokvica island for their own purposes or for use in the hospitality and tourism industry.

If we're focusing on the latter case, the tender stated that the adaptation of existing buildings, such as transforming them into some sort of tourist resort or hotel is possible if done within four-star standards. It is also possible to install easily removable prefabricated objects on the beach, in order to make it more desirable for tourists. But new construction on the island wasn't an option.

However, the tenant who agreed to the annual price of 6.1 million kuna now wants to construct new luxury buildings, villas and common facilities, and presented his project to representatives of the Ministries of State Property, Defense and Construction and the Prefect of Sibenik-Knin, Goran Pauk.

The participants stated that the question of just how much they are actually willing to invest is totally irrelevant because the project presented is beyond the legal possible dimensions.

"Smokvica island is still a special purpose island belonging to the MOD (Ministry of Defense) and for as long as that remains the case, then no construction is possible. We explained to them that it was possible to make some changes, but firstly to the MOD, and then there could be a change in the municipal and county spatial plan,'' said Pauk, adding that the plan presented by the tenants is still not feasible in the dimensions that they're looking for, among other things, because of the size of Smokvica island and because of the prescribed minimum distance of structures needing to be 100 metres away from the coastline.

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Smokvica is a little island located in the picturesque Sibenik archipelago in Dalmatia. This beautiful, quaint paradise was once used by the notorious, formerly untouchable Todoric family, the head of which is Ivica Todoric, the former owner of the Agrokor empire.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 18th of February, 2020, after the island was returned to state ownership after the Agrokor crisis broke out back in 2017, resulting in the sale of Todoric's property to try to attempt to cover costs incurred during his alleged dodgy dealings, the Ministry of State Property signed a thirty-year lease with Green Real Estate (Zelena nekretnina d.o.o.), founded by a Hungarian fund.

That lease was signed back in mid-2018.

After Lex Agrokor came into force and Agrokor was signed over to the state, eventually transforming and much later becoming the current Fortenova Group, Smokvica almost disappeared from public view in terms of media coverage. This stunning yet mysterious island was used privately by the Todoric family for some twenty years, and when the dynasty fell and the truth came to light, the problem of revitalising the island of Smokvica arose.

This was the topic of a recent meeting at the Ministry of State Property (MDI) with tenant representatives, Sibenik-Knin County, the Municipality of Rogoznica and the relevant ministries in search of a solution for a possible conversion model that would be legally applicable to the island of Smokvica, on which there is still some military infrastructure.

Now that Smokvica is entering a new phase after twenty years or so of being the ''home'' of the Todoric family during the summer months, shut off from the rest of Croatia and indeed the rest of the world, an agreement is being attempted to be reached by involved parties and the current thirty-year lease holders to revitalise the island which was once the paradise of one of the country's most notorious families.

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Brna and Smokvica, somewhere half-way between Korčula and Vela Luka, invite you to visit them, not just drive through. 

In the last six years, a period of time which has seen about 380,000 people leave Croatia, just two families left this island municipality...

The Tourist Board of Korčula, the Čara local administration, the Tourist Board of Smokvica Municipality and 14 winemakers from Čara and Smokvica would like to invite you to visit the 8^th Pošip Days in Čara and Smokvica, taking place July 28 – August 3^rd this year.