Bergisch sun

The ruins of the Bergische Sonne 2015

The Bergische Sonne was an adventure pool on Lichtscheid in Wuppertal from 1992 to 2012 . On January 23, 2012, the pool was closed in order to expand the sauna area and the fitness area according to plans . On July 4, 2012, the entire facility was closed, several possible subsequent uses - including as a wellness hotel - were planned by the owners, but none of the announced concepts were implemented.

description

The entrance area (2008)

Interior view with flow circuit (2004)

Anchoring pirate ship in the water playground (2004)

Exterior view (2008)

The facility on the site of the former Kapellen tram depot covered an area of 6,000 square meters (excluding parking spaces and external areas) and was thematically divided into three different areas until 2012. There was a sauna area with numerous different types of saunas and the corresponding relaxation areas, a fitness studio and an adventure pool area with several indoor and outdoor pools and two water slides. The latter was closed in January 2012. The number of visitors in 2001 was given as 450,000 annually.

The indoor area of the bathing area with catering was characterized by a larger wave pool . In the immediate vicinity there was a flow circle with an attached rock grotto. On the first floor there was a children's area with a water playground, pirate ship and treasure grotto. There were three hot tubs on the same floor . A slide system, each consisting of a so-called "Black Hole" and a "Blue Line" water slide , rounded off the offer. The entire interior was designed with artificial rocks. In the outdoor area of the leisure pool there was a sunbathing lawn and some seating areas for restaurants, a brine pool and a cold water pool .

A visit to the fitness studio was not included in the entrance fee to the swimming pool. However, a single visit to the studio was also possible for an additional charge. Most recently, around 1000 people used the swimming pool area every month and thus only half of the maximum number of visitors measured daily.

history

Bankruptcy 2009

Until the end of 2009 the company was run as Waterworld Bergische Sonne GmbH by a Cypriot entrepreneur. Numerous comments from visitors to the Bergische Sonne on rating platforms on the Internet showed that the condition of the bathroom had noticeably deteriorated since mid / late 2007. There were complaints about soiling of the facilities, rusting metal parts, rotting wood, mold growth and various technical defects.

The bath was completely closed on November 24, 2009. The local press and local radio reported that the local energy provider had temporarily stopped supplying electricity, water and district heating due to overdue bills. On the other hand, a notice said that the bathroom was closed due to technical problems. On November 26, 2009, the pool resumed its normal operation at 9 a.m. The local utility company had resumed supply the day before.

On December 30, 2009, Stephan Ries (Wuppertal) was appointed preliminary insolvency administrator at the Wuppertal District Court under the file number 145 IN 1299/09 . One day later, the employees were informed about the bankruptcy petition . The insolvency administrator announced after a few days that he saw a good chance of continuing to operate the leisure pool. On January 9, 2010 the pool was reopened with changed opening times and new pricing. At the same time, the first steps were taken to repair damage to buildings. At the beginning of April 2010, the insolvency administrator found a new operator who began with the extensive renovation of the bathroom. The insolvency proceedings filed at the end of December 2009 led to the company being taken over by an investor on April 1, 2010.

Change of operator and concept

The new operator carried out the necessary renovation measures. Nevertheless, the bathing operation no longer reached the visitor numbers of the early days. At the beginning of 2012, a change of concept was carried out, which provided for the abandonment of the swimming pool and the expansion of the sauna and fitness areas. This concept was abandoned in mid-2012.

Together with the hotel company Novum Group , the owners developed the use of the entire facility as a wellness hotel with 200 rooms, but the wellness areas should also be open to day guests . This concept was not implemented because the investor and owner could not agree. In October 2013 the Novum Group withdrew from project development.

Finader GmbH was founded as the new owner in autumn 2013 for the purpose of acquiring Bergische Sonne. She took up the concept of the wellness hotel and planned to reopen the Bergische Sonne by the end of 2015. There was no sign of any construction activity in the facility until mid-2016.

Conversion of the site

The area has been up for sale again since the beginning of June 2016. The customer car park and thus half of the approximately 40,000 m² area of the former leisure pool was acquired by the Barmer Ersatzkasse in 2017 and has since been used as an employee car park for the nearby headquarters.

On May 8th, 2018 it was announced that the city council of the city of Wuppertal had decided to acquire the remaining area with the buildings. The city plans to demolish all buildings and develop the area as commercial space or for residential construction. The purchase was carried out on May 16, 2018.

Others

Bergische Sonne was also from 1932 to 2002 the brand name of a tobacco mainly sold in the Bergisches Land (in the historical-geographical definition) and until 1994 the company of a Solingen tobacco and cigar factory.