Not that you would ever miss this eyesore of dilapidated buildings on Hohemarkstrasse when exiting the Camp King area. And if you have ever been on the U3 between the stations Kupferhammerweg and Im Rosengärtchen, you surely noticed the old corner buildings, so close to the tracks and lined with graffiti.

Hohemarkstrasse in Oberursel

The buildings, which seem to be at the end of the road (center), are some of which already demolished. See close-up below.

Construction site near Hohemarkstrasse

On my way to the dentist this morning, I happened to see the progress. The old buildings are gone and the next structure to come down is the tower. I have heard that the local youngsters gather around the area every day as they do not want to miss the tower’s demolition (far right).

A new residential area will be built as Oberursel is still in need of housing.

Inspired by some positive feedback I got from a stateside reader (in contrast to what my son says about this blog), I decided to take a little walk through the Camp King neighborhood on this beautiful Indian summer day.

Camp King Oberursel

The Officers' Club at Camp King Oberursel

Officers' Club a.k.a. Mountain Lodge in Oberursel

In June 2010, I had written a short post about Officers’ Club at Camp King finds Investor. Unfortunately, nothing has been done on the outside since then.

Basement window of the Officers' Club

Overgrown by weeds.

Overlooking the grounds of the former Camp King Oberursel

This photo was taken on the steps of the back entrance, looking down the hill side, towards Hohemarkstrasse (not in view).

Near the front entrance of the Officers' Club Oberursel

The area around the Officers’ Club shows some very modern apartment buildings and some one-family homes in the half-timbered style.

Nothing really much has changed since the Mountain Lodge/Officers’ Club got its new owner. And time is not on its side – another ten years without occupancy and then…?

A photo of the beautiful  Mountain Lodge in wintertime.

On Saturday, 20th August, 2011 there will be a tour of the area in Oberursel known as “Camp King” with local historian Manfred Kopp.

The tour covers the history of the area from the Reichssiedlungshof in the 1930s, through the time of the Dulag Luft up to the end of the U.S. Army presence in the town.

The meeting point is the Edeka parking lot at the corner of Camp-King-Allee at 2 pm, and the tour costs 3 EURO.  It ends at the Kirchenladen where archive material can be viewed.

This is an interesting opportunity for local residents to learn more about the history of the area that they live in.

In my last post  from 18 June, I had reported about the difficulties in finding an investor to take on the Officers’ Club. All that has changed within the last two weeks – after 17 years of lying idle.

The Taunuszeitung, dated 30 June 2010, had the following article Luxus hinterm Fachwerk (extravagance behind the half-timber). The Oberurseler Woche, date 01 July 2010, also carried an article titled  Im Offizierskasino entstehen Wohnungen (The Officers’ Club will change into apartments).

Over the years, several investors had been interested in the Officers’ Club, but none of their plans of turning it into any kind of business got approved. The residents of this Villenviertel (exclusive residential area) had enough say-so to put any type of business plans to rest.

This has come to an end with the current investor’s proposal for turning the building into privately owned apartments. To do that, the investor set up his own corporation, Mountain Lodge Grundstücks-GmbH, and bought the areal of 1200 qm (close to three acres) from the city of Oberursel.

The Officers’ Club (also called Mountain Lodge around here) has found a new purpose, and the previous hope of getting the basement to house the Camp King archives is lost. Manfred Kopp, the Camp King archivist, is still without a permanent home for the Camp King archives, but we will continue looking for an appropriate location.

Once again, the business deal fell through.

For the past ten years,  the Stadtentwicklungs- und Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft mbH Oberursel (SEWO) has been trying to sell the Officers’ Club (aka as Mountain Lodge) without success. The original asking price of € 1.5 million has come down to € 900.000, but petitions and restrictions from the  surrounding neighbors make the sale difficult, if not downright impossible.

The building, erected in 1938, served as the Officers’ Club from 1945 until 1993.

The Officers' Club at Camp King Oberursel

The last potential buyer was going to run an office on the first floor, possible rent out two spacious apartment under the roof, as well letting our historian Manfred Kopp keep his Camp King archives in the basement.

Now it is official as yesterday’s e-mail from SEWO confirmed – the house is on the market once more and the search for another location to house the Camp King documents is on.

In October 2009, the Frankfurter Rundschau had published an interesting article Büros in der alten Wiskeybar.

To read more about this project, read my previous Camp King posts.

When time stands still... Officers' Club Camp King

During the construction boom in the late 1990s, this important building was overlooked. Call it negligence or ignorance, but had a specific land-use type for this building been added BEFORE the sale of the surrounding houses, the Officers’ Club would have had a caretaker by now. Instead of being idle inventory, Oberursel could have added this as a historical monument to its portfolio.

I am afraid the tower clock will read 12:15 for many years to come.

Note: U.S. Americans refer to the building as the Officers’ Club, whereas most Germans call it the Mountain Lodge.