“Healthy time” from Fichtelgebirge
Frankenpost, December 2015
The flagship project in Weißenstadt is growing. People are supposed to reduce stress there, promises the concept of the operators. And there will be more than 100 new jobs.
Weißenstadt - On the construction site near Lake Weißenstadt, there is lively activity. There is growing a project that is to be known well beyond the Fichtelgebirge: the “Siebenquell Gesundzeitresort”. Already in September 2016, it is planned to open the doors for the first guests. “A sporting goal,” initiator and managing director Stephan Gesell admits. However, he does not make any doubts about the date.
The new project costs a good 60 million euros, including a thermal spa landscape with 1500 square meters of water area and 225 hotel beds. Just a stone’s throw from the new building is the spa center Siebenstern, which has been running since 2007 – it is currently about 90 percent loaded. The age group is on average more than 60 years.
The company will be significantly younger than the existing spa center in the Siebenquell health resort, expecting Gesell and his authorized representative Michael Bauernfeind, who are in talks with the Frankenpost’s strategy
for the new house. Above all, people who are still in the midst of professional life are the target group. The essential offer is to prevent exhaustion. The word burnout does not like Gesell. The 43-year-old Managing Director promises to his customers “deceleration” and “de-stressing”.
In the same way as in the health center, Gesell is targeting a utilization rate of about 90 percent for the new house. Health tourism offers a “huge market,” says the manager. And he touches the advertising drum. In “Weißenstadt”, “Germany’s most attractive health and spa resort” is being built. The offer is aimed exclusively at self-payers; There are no benefits from health insurance funds – as in the spa center.
The concept contains a comprehensive program. The basis for the therapy offer is the successful thermal drilling at more than 1800 meters depth, which conveys the well 35 degrees of warm, fluoride and sulfur-containing water to the surface. The entire range ranges from healthy diets with show cooking to meeting and seminar offers, explain society and farmer’s foe. Apart from medical assistance, the guests in Weißenstadt will also be able to access the services of psychologists and clergymen. A week with a full board and all the trimmings cost around 900 euros, says Gesell. The stripped version gives it from about 500 euros.
Where should the guests come from? From the cities of Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia and Berlin the Weißenstädter are waiting for most of the customers who book with accommodation. “We are promoting the entire federal territory and the neighboring European states”, says Michael Bauernfeind. On the other hand, the guests are mostly recruited from a radius of about 100 kilometers. According to Stephan Gesell, “the plans are not based on wishes, but on several expert opinions, which have been preceded by intensive surveys”.
The Siebenquell-Gesundzeitresort will have more than 100 jobs. We are looking for a wide range of specialists, whether in the kitchen, in the service or in the spa landscape. From Bademeister
to the sports economist everything is there. “I am a professional,” says Gesell. But it was already a “real challenge” to put the entire staff on their feet by September. The application phase begins in March. Candidates, who send their documents before, have to wait until then, explains the
Managing Director.
At EUR 60.2 million, Gesell estimates net investment for the new project. Of this amount, 31 million are loan capital, which is made available by a bank consortium consisting of savings banks, VR banks and their umbrella organizations. 14.7 million came as a subsidy from the Free State of Bavaria – the
the largest sum ever paid for a single project. Prerequisite for funding and disbursement by the bank consortium, according to Gesell, was evidence of equity of 14.5 million euros. This sum was essentially achieved by the participation of citizens from the region.
Two million of these EUR 14.5 million are covered by intermediaries. At the height of these two million, there was still the possibility of participating in the project in Weißenstadt. According to the company, the minimum investment amounts to 25,000 euros, and the top is 5000 euros. By the year 2027, as long as the shares have to be held, a yield between four and eight percent is targeted. Gesell also emphasizes the fact that for limited partners the loss up to the amount of their contribution can not be excluded.
The seven-seventh-source health care center is expected to earn some twelve million euros in sales in 2017. By way of comparison: In the Kurzentrum the makers plan for the current year 5.8 million, for 2016 six million euro sales. In the medium term, both independent companies are thus jointly managing the 20 million mark.
300 jobs
Stephan Gesell is the managing director of four economically independent companies: 90 people are currently working in the Kurzentrum Siebenstern Weißenstadt, just as many are in the Kurzentrum Waren an der Müritz. When the Siebenquell health resort in Weißenstadt starts operations in September 2016, more than 100 employees will be added. Finally, in the company of Gesell GmbH, besides Gesell and Michael Bauernfeind, authorized representative of all four companies, a further five people work. The company is responsible for construction management, project development and financing. Altogether, the four companies have about 300 jobs.