Space Park Bremen Ready For Lift Off

The official opening on Feb. 12 of the $300 million Space Park Bremen in Northern Germany is the realization of more than a decade of effort on the part of the man who spearheaded the idea and as many as three attraction design companies that have been involved in the project.

At 66,000 square feet, the Space Center portion of SPB is billed as the largest indoor adventure park in Europe.

In 1992, Dr. Wolfgang Wilke, a nuclear physicist, was working for the German space agency.

At about that time, the city-state of Bremen was interested in developing part of its dormant shipyards on the Wieser River. Ideas for turning part of the waterfront into a site accessible by the public were solicited and Wilke put forth the idea of reproducing space activities for the general public, a la, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Bremen was, after all, already a center of European space industry activity.

Wilke's idea, which won a competition held by his employer, the German space Agency DASA (now EADS Space Transportation), was to combine space-related entertainment with educational components in an environment that included thrill rides, retail shops, a hotel, restaurants and health and wellness components.

Feasibility studies showed that the project had merit and could draw strongly (although not exclusively) from a market area of 31 million people that was within a three-hour drive of Bremen, said Wilke, who noted that another 10 million tourists arrive yearly to destinations within 90 miles of Bremen.

Professional project development commenced on the project in 1996 and Burbank-based BRC Imagination Arts began designing the facility for developer Koellman AG.

Later, BRC dropped off the project and its design was headed up by the now-defunct Landmark Entertainment Group (although Landmark has reemerged under new ownership).

Landmark ultimately was unable to complete the project due to its own financial troubles and eventual insolvency.

Bill Gorgensen, a designer who had worked on Disneyland Paris, was hired by Koellmann to lead an international team of industry experts to bring the fanciful project to completion.

ProFun Management Group, a company wholly owned by Tustin, Calif.-based Management Resources, in 2001 was contracted to manage the project and in 2002, when Koellmann sought to "get out from under the project," ProFun was offered the chance to buy them out, explained Management Resources partner Jim Benedick.

He and his colleagues (including company principals Jim Harmon and Dave Schmitt) saw enough potential in the project that they decided to assume the role of owner