This Christmas surprise was a success: the ducal family brought the well-known Tegernsee hotelier Korbinian Kohler on board to develop Wildbad Kreuth.
He already has a vision.
The
hotelier Korbinian Kohler
leases a large part of the
Wildbad Kreuth area
.
Wildbad Kreuth is not supposed to become a hotel complex in the conventional sense, but a
mental retreat resort.
The
ducal family
has also founded a family company.
Tegernsee
-
Numerous interested parties have knocked on in recent years - clinic operators, classic hoteliers, real estate developers, investors.
"At Korbinian Kohler the chemistry was right immediately," says Baron Andreas von Maltzan (56).
The entrepreneur (internet companies, real estate) has belonged to the ducal house since the wedding with Duchess Anna in Bavaria in 2015 and has been managing the business of Duchess Helene in Bavaria, the landlady of Wildbad Kreuth, for four months.
She actually wanted to take the revitalization of the traditional area into her own hands, but apparently got no further.
Then came Kohler, who was constantly expanding his existing empire.
These include, partly as owner, partly as leaseholder, the Spa & Resort Bachmair Weissach, the Wiesseer Hotel Bussi Baby, the Alte Wallberghaus, the Kirschner Alm in Weissach, the clubhouse Bachmair-Weissach in Tegernsee, the Rottacher Gästehaus Mahler and the Waitzinger Bräu in Miesbach.
+
Hotelier Korbinian Kohler (left) and Baron Andreas von Maltzan with the heraldic animal of Wildbad Kreuth.
© Thomas Plettenberg
Korbinian Kohler takes over Wildbad Kreuth: "This is not just a real estate deal"
A few years ago he made his first contact with Duchess Helene, this summer he had the opportunity to convey his view of things for Wildbad Kreuth to the whole ducal family.
"Wildbad Kreuth is not just a real estate deal," says Kohler, who was born on Lake Tegernsee and feels closely connected to his homeland.
There is no larger rough diamond than this place, which has been in the possession of the Wittelsbach royal family since 1818.
He therefore wants to lead this special place into a future that does justice to the history of the place and the Wittelsbachers as well as the needs of new generations.
New plans for Wildbad Kreuth: The vision is already there
A
"vision"
have this historic yet
mystical
and
spiritually
charged
place
have been created year 500 with his story: "I want a unique Mental retreat world-class establish," says Kohler.
He observed that there is a great and growing need for offers with which people can counter their emotional and psychological tension in a healthy way.
In the retreat, says Kohler, who is also a studied philosopher, “the guest will not only find spiritual relaxation from everyday life under professional guidance, but also, thanks to philosophical and spiritual incentives, will be encouraged to personal self-discovery, reflection and a conscious lifestyle.
In this way he finds the way to more mindfulness and resilience. ”Kohler announced that Wildbad Kreuth will celebrate a new kind of relaxation as the youngest member of the Bachmair Weissach cosmos.
New plans for Wildbad Kreuth: Ducal family founds society
He has already convinced the ducal family with this vision.
She has now founded a "Wildbad Kreuth Familien GmbH & Co.KG", which includes Andreas von Maltzan as managing director, Duchess Helene, her two sisters Duchess Anna in Bavaria and Marie Caroline Duchess of Württemberg and father Duke Max in Bavaria.
The shares are "homogeneously divided", so von Maltzan, everyone brings their own capital.
From April 1, 2021, Korbinian Kohler will take over large parts of Wildbad Kreuth on a long-term lease ("for a fair lease") - a five-hectare area with the listed main building complex with 8,500 square meters of living space that has been in place since the Hanns Seidel Foundation moved out was empty over four years ago.
Buildings around the outside, such as the old bath, the church and the fish farm in the south as well as buildings previously used for agriculture in the north, the family GmbH wants to keep and develop itself.
Here, too, the ideas are already bubbling up: The Herzogliche Quelle is to be brought back to life and marketed, Andreas von Maltzan can also imagine building tree house hotels in the vicinity of Wildbad Kreuth.
When this will be is completely open.
I want to be number one on this planet.
Korbinian Kohler
All those involved are now focusing on Wildbad Kreuth.
Kohler's mental retreat should open its doors in three years.
With experts and good friends he will develop his vision for Wildbad Kreuth, together with the community, authorities and the strict monument protection.
So far there are no concrete plans - except for one.
Kohler: "I want to be number one on this planet."
From the source to today: The history of Wildbad Kreuth
According to legend, a wounded doe drank herself healthy in the Kreuther Heilig-Geist-Quelle.
Shepherds and farmers are said to have used the spring since then.
The mineral spring was first mentioned as Bad Sankt Leonhard in
1490
.
The first bathers were the monks of the Tegernsee monastery, who also managed the bathing business.
In 1511
Abbot Heinrich V built a bathhouse in Wildbad Kreuth.
After a fire, Abbot Quirin
not only built a new bathhouse in
1696
, but also the adjoining Chapel of the Holy Cross.
Since then, this building complex has been called the Old Bath.
In 1706
another bath house was added, today's Schusterhäusl next to the old bath.
After the secularization of
1803
, Simon Zahler, a former bath attendant, acquired the land on the condition that the baths should never be closed.
In 1818
his descendants sold the entire area to King Max I Joseph in Bavaria.
He had the current building built and continued the bathing business.
In 1822 he
introduced the whey cure based on the Swiss model.
The goat whey was served daily in the whey hall, which was completed a year later, in specially designed cups and given to the spa guests.
Spa guests included Emperor Franz Joseph I and Emperors Nikolaus I and Alexander I.
From
1924
until his death in
1960
, the musician and folk music collector Kiem Pauli lived in Wildbad Kreuth.
During the Second World War, the buildings were used by Hamburg schools as part of the children's area.
At the end of the Second World War, the brewhouse went up in flames, until
1957
Ludwig Wilhelm in Bavaria converted the facilities into a modern sanatorium.
Today the bath is owned by the dukes in Bavaria from the Wittelsbach family who inherited the bath.
They operated the spa until
1973
.
In 1974
the Hanns Seidel Foundation leased the building and, after a general
renovation
, used it
as a conference center and education center
until
2016
.
Duchess Helene in Bavaria, as the owner, initially planned a conference hotel before
changing the concept
at the beginning of
2017
and planning a sanatorium with a medical focus.
At the end of
2019
, she submitted a preliminary construction request for the conversion to a hotel with 65 guest rooms, for the construction of a new bathhouse instead of the swimming pool and the change in use of the outbuildings, which were previously mostly used for agriculture, for a hotel.
The Kreuther municipal council agreed in principle.
gr