“The most beautiful children come from the most difficult births,” said Economics Minister Markus Achleitner on Friday afternoon at the official groundbreaking ceremony, encouraging investors in the Freistadt city hotel. The ten-storey hotel tower with 111 rooms, roof restaurant, conference rooms and extensive wellness area is to be completed by summer 2023.
The fact that construction prices have literally gone through the roof in recent months caused investor Dietmar Hehenberger some headaches. “I initially calculated the hotel at 15 or 16 million euros. Based on my many years of experience in the industry, I thought that was quite realistic. When the first cost estimates landed on my desk, I had to take a deep breath,” said Hehenberger to the OÖ Nachrichten after the groundbreaking ceremony. The bottom line is that the project has increased in price to 23 million euros. In order to be able to handle the project anyway, Hehenberger contacted his longtime friend Wolfgang Hochreiter from Bad Leonfelden. He had already shown interest in getting involved a year ago and now he seized the opportunity to act as a co-owner.
On Friday, Hehenberger and Hochreiter also announced details of the business, which is currently still known as “Hotel Freistadt” but is to be given another name. The term “selfness” came up again and again. According to Hehenberger, the aim is to add active elements to the well-known wellness holiday. The spectrum ranges from mountain bike tours or forest bathing to pilgrimages on the Johannesweg. In addition, trade fair and business tourism will play an important role for the hotel.
Hehenberger was quite modest on Friday with regard to the target for utilization: “Initially we will calculate with 60 percent. In the medium term, however, we want to get to 80 percent.” Last but not least, the 170-seat “Sky Restaurant” on the top floor of the hotel with an impressive view over the city should contribute to sales.
Source: Nachrichten
