Wilhelm Kopp’s dyeworks, an impressive building located between Św. Trójcy Street and Młynówka, will not be transformed into the Hampton by Hilton hotel. However, the new investor has specific plans for this place.
For about ten years, there have been talks about turning the five-story dyeworks, built at the beginning of the 20th century, into a hotel. In 2018, a banner announcing the future Hampton by Hilton hotel, a budget version of the Hilton hotel, was even hung on the building. The plans came to nothing, and eventually, the LM Investment company sold the building to the NK Polska Development company, with whom they signed an agreement in February of this year.
Residential Apartments and Ground Floor Businesses
NK Polska Development has already prepared an action plan – it is known that there will mainly be residential apartments, possibly also apartments. Additionally, the ground floor facing Młynówka will be designated for commercial activities, and it is very likely that a restaurant, pub, or café will be opened here.
What does the city think about it? There will be consultations
As Patryk Bewicz, the managing director of NK Polska Development, announced, the company will conduct necessary consultations with the city conservator of monuments, the city architect, and the urban planning committee. Only after reaching an agreement, the details of the investment will be known. It is scheduled to start in the second quarter of next year and last up to 20 months. If this happens, the first residents of the old Kopp dyeworks will receive the keys around the turn of 2024 and 2025.
An Experienced Developer
NK Polska Development is not a newcomer to our real estate market. The Bydgoszcz company from Stary Port sold all the apartments on Orlej Street, where Perłowa Dolina is growing, and announced that it will start building apartments on Grunwaldzka Street 25. The futuristic projects are designed by the Lines Architekci company, also from Bydgoszcz.
The History of the Old Dyeworks
Bydgoszcz industrialist Wilhelm Kopp bought the plot of land between Młynówka and Św. Trójcy Street in 1903. The five-story dyeworks building was quickly constructed there. The ground floor housed the dyeworks, boilers, and steam engines. The upper floors included a laundry, gasoline purification plant, ironing room, shipping department, and employee apartments. The building also housed a clothing sorting facility that received garments from the company’s branches in Chełmno, Grudziądz, Inowrocław, and Toruń. Wilhelm Kopp paid special attention to safety in the factory, which was considered a model of fire protection organization. Installations that used gasoline were equipped with various safety measures and alarm systems. The contaminated gasoline was recovered through distillation and stored in tanks in the basement, and it was delivered for reuse through a closed pipeline.
It is known that in 1910 the company employed 60 people, mostly women. The Kopp family’s dyeworks (Wilhelm died in 1919) operated until the end of World War II. Later, the factory was nationalized and taken over by the Polish “Pralchem.” Economic activity in this location ceased in the 1990s. In 2007, the building was purchased by a development company from Warsaw, which intended to convert the factory into loft apartments. In 2011, the property was acquired by the “Stara Farbiarnia” company, which planned to open a hotel there. The building was put up for sale at the beginning of 2022.
Wilhelm Kopp’s dyeworks is a classic example of brick industrial architecture from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Let’s hope that the factory will soon gain a new lease on life.
