The Phoenix Lake is with the surrounding area a residential and recreational area with restaurants and commercial buildings. Responsible for planning and construction are the Phoenix-See-Entwicklungsgesellschaft, which is a subsidiary of Dortmunder Stadtwerke, the Emschergenossenschaft and the city of Dortmund. The location is the 96-hectare site of the former Hermannshütte in Dortmund-Hörde (Hörder Bergwerks- und Hütten-Verein).
The pond has a length of 1230 meters, a maximum width of 310 meters and a maximum depth of about 4.6 meters. The area is about 24 hectares and the capacity about 600,000 m³. The lake is also a building block in the renaturation of the Emscher. Its design as a rainwater retention basin protects the downstream residential and commercial buildings on the banks of the Emscher from flooding. At the monastic building in the harbor basin, it can be held back and controlled to be reintroduced into the Emscher. [3] If necessary, the lake can additionally absorb up to 360,000 m³ of rainwater. [4]. Together with the around two kilometers west and 110 hectares Phoenix-West Technology Park and the northern 60 hectares of fallow land (Phoenix Park), the lake changes Hördes' formerly heavy industry image.
On its banks, after a 150-year industrial use history [5] a predominantly home-based residential development with about 1200 units on approximately 26 hectares was realized. Gastronomy and leisure facilities are to create 5000 jobs on a 3.2 kilometer long waterfront.