Buyer vanishes after purchasing Varkaus resort for €5,000

A nearly 80-year-old man with financial difficulties bought the bankrupt Kuntoranta holiday resort in Varkaus for €5,000 and has since become unreachable, Yle reports. The resort is now deteriorating, while unusual 40-year lease agreements made shortly before the bankruptcy are complicating its redevelopment.

Yle’s investigation found that the buyer had been involved in Finland’s largest art forgery case and received a suspended prison sentence. He and his transport company also have debts in enforcement proceedings, and he has had no taxable income for more than 10 years.

Kuntoranta, a lakeside holiday centre a few kilometres from Varkaus city centre, was founded in 1969 by Eläkeläiset ry, an organisation with left-wing roots, as a holiday destination for its members. At its height, the centre was nationally known. It began as a tent village, later gained a hotel and then a spa in the early 2000s.

The centre offered subsidised holidays for people on low incomes, but funding began to decline in the 2010s. Its final blow came in spring 2020, when all holidays were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Eläkeläiset ry sold the loss-making Kuntoranta to its former managing director, entrepreneur Jarmo Ikäheimonen, in June 2020. One company ran the business, while Ikäheimonen established two property companies to manage the buildings and land.

The company operating the spa hotel went bankrupt in March 2022, and the premises have been empty ever since. The two property companies were also forced into bankruptcy at the end of 2025 after accumulating heating bills worth €80,000.

The bankruptcy estate auctioned the five-hectare resort, including its buildings, in February 2026. The buyer was a man from Vaasa. His business partner completed the transaction using a power of attorney and paid the purchase price in cash.

After the purchase, the buyer could no longer be reached. The City of Varkaus has spoken to him once by telephone. At least two other parties have also acted as contact people on behalf of the owner, but Yle has been unable to reach them for comment.

The local newspaper Warkauden Lehti reached the man by telephone last May. He said that an animal park was planned for the resort. Earlier plans for the area had included a care home and holiday buildings.

Yle’s investigation found that the development plans are entangled in unusual lease agreements signed for 40 years shortly before the bankruptcy. An expert said the agreements may have infringed the interests of creditors. The death of a key person has also made the situation more difficult.

If the buildings continue to deteriorate, their demolition could ultimately be paid for by taxpayers.

The resort gate is closed to cars, but a walking route used by local residents runs through the hotel area. Kirsti Lumiala, who lives next door and is a Social Democratic city councillor in Varkaus, has witnessed Kuntoranta’s creation, heyday and decline. She said the resort had brought people many memorable experiences over the decades and described its current condition as sad.