The information came as a surprise to the members of the HVB Club. At the end of the year there will be an end to fitness, football and tennis at Tucherpark, they found out at their general meeting a few days ago. The European fitness club operator Aspria, which had hoped to become a new tenant for the sports area at the English Garden, has received a rejection from the Commerzbank subsidiary Commerz Real and the project developer Hines, who have owned the green office location since 2019. This means that the HVB Club is also on the street. Both the club and Aspria had already thought the deal was done.
For more than 50 years, the 15 hectare area in Schwabing between the English Garden and Ifflandstrasse was home to the HVB Club, the association for Hypovereinsbank members. The Unicredit subsidiary, then still operating under the name Bayerische Vereinsbank, had Tucherpark built in 1969 as the new administrative headquarters according to the plans of Sep Ruf and Karl Kagerer – including a hotel and a large company sports facility.
Tucherpark was the home of the HVB Club for more than 50 years – but now the sports club has to move out at short notice.
(Photo: Bernd Ratzke/HVB Club e. V.)
Hypovereinsbank is now only the tenant of the sports areas. The contract expires at the end of June 2024, but from the club’s active perspective, sports operations could have continued, at least temporarily – until the redesign of the area planned by Commerz Real and Hines actually starts.
“We wanted to take over the sports grounds as an interim solution for three years until the future of Tucher Park was finally decided,” says Thomas Strohmeyer. The managing director of Aspresso Deutschland GmbH, a brand within the Aspria Group that primarily focuses on families, has been there several times in the past few months to get an idea of the facility. He has seen how much is in need of renovation; the swimming pool alone, which has been unused for years, needs a general overhaul. However, he believes that this would have been manageable with contribution costs of between 59 and 69 euros per member per month. It should be an offer for all Munich residents, “the ideal place that families can visit together”.
It was also planned to take over the five employees and the entire inventory; the approximately 1,700 HVB club members would have received a special rate with this solution. The fact that this is now not possible is “very unfortunate,” says HVB club board member Oliver Kasparek. It would be “a very attractive solution for everyone involved – especially for the public.” Other club members are even clearer, saying that the HVB athletes are now “looking like a stovepipe into the mountains.” After all: If you want, you can find a future at SV Weißblau-Allianz on Osterwaldstrasse, not far from the previous location. The sporting offerings and membership costs are similar.
Nevertheless: Strohmeyer has not yet given up hope. There will not be a smooth transition in sports operations, but the project for the Tucher Park has not fundamentally fallen through, he says. “There is still hope that something long-term will emerge.” Investors “showed him great appreciation” for the idea and concept.
Commerz Real and Hines also speak of “future sports use”
Both Commerz Real and Hines emphasize that they understand the needs of the sports club members, but are unable to make a decision on the interim use of the sports area at this point due to the ongoing planning process. However, both will be “ready in 2024 to weigh up the various interests with the feasible options and integrate them into a more advanced planning process.”
Regardless of the use of the HVB sports club, “we had planned and will continue to plan future sports use in the area.” However, it is still unclear which provider could come into play: “We have received various expressions of interest in the last few months”. The city council had already decided in the summer that the Tucherpark area would continue to be used for sports as part of the planning decision.
The Department for Education and Sport points out that the municipality had already shown interest in taking over the tennis courts and swimming pool in 2018 in order to secure the sports grounds. “But the Hypovereinsbank didn’t want that at the time,” says spokesman Lukas Schauer. The bank confirms that it had held discussions at the time about a possible takeover of the ailing swimming pool, but otherwise does not want to comment on negotiations from five years ago.
The next step is to revise the master plan for Tucherpark, a task the city councilors gave the investors in the summer. According to Hines circles, the final script should be ready by the middle of next year.