Sources: Entwicklungsstadt 30 March 2022, Berliner Woche 13 January 2020
Hans Georg Näder’s plans to revive the old Bötzow Brewery in Berlin are in full swing. For many years, the brewery’s site in Prenzlauer Berg lay fallow. At the end of 2010, Näder decided to purchase the property and modernize it. An urban campus is to be built there, which will offer more than 24,000 square meters of space for offices, apartments, restaurants and cafés.
The person Hans Georg Näder
Hans Georg Näder is the owner and CEO of the Ottobock Group, a leading provider of orthopedic technology solutions headquartered in Duderstadt. Näder also comes from this small town in southeastern Lower Saxony, where he grew up, graduated from high school and took over the management of the family business in 1990. Before him, his father, Max Näder, was at the helm of the company.
Today, Hans Georg Näder is one of the richest Germans and one of the country’s most bizarre entrepreneurs. When you see the 61-year-old, you would hardly think he is a manager of a billion-dollar corporation. His outfits are usually rounded off by a colorful scarf, and he sees himself as a “colorful bouquet of flowers full of surprises.” The American business magazine Forbes estimates Näder’s fortune in 2022 at around 2.5 billion dollars. He owns several luxury yachts, some private jets and an art gallery. He lives by the motto “what I like, I buy”. Thus, consequently also his own brewery.
The brewery that nobody wanted
Admittedly, it is not a brewery that is still in operation, but rather the site on which it stands. The site covers an area of more than 24,000 square meters. Since 1990, 20 years before Näder acquired the campus, the owners of the Bötzow Brewery had changed several times. Ideas about how the huge site could be used also varied. A lot was planned, but nothing was implemented. Many projects came to nothing. Nobody wanted the old brewery; the effort would have been too great. Moreover, the investments that would be needed to be made there would have amounted to hundreds of millions. Näder, however, had the financial means and struck.
Shortfalls in financing plans for Näder’s Bötzow Brewery
In a 2015 interview published in Berlin Valley magazine, Näder shared that planned investments would total 250 million euros. The brewery campus was to become an innovation center, a mix of startup culture, cafes and new-style apartments.
To finance this project, Näder reached into the company coffers. So deeply, in fact, that despite sales that bordered on the billions, the company still made a net loss for the year. In 2012, the company posted a profit of 10.8 million euros. In contrast to Näder’s withdrawal of around 50 million euros, however, this amount is vanishingly small. In 2015, Näder took out almost twice that amount again. Within the last decade, withdrawals for private purposes added up to half a billion euros. The reduction in equity significantly reduced the company’s financing power. Especially as a business graduate and company executive, Näder should know that such behavior is not particularly helpful for the long-term success and preservation of a company.
The history of the brewery
The history of the Bötzow Brewery goes back to 1864, when Julius Bötzow, then only 25 years old, opened his own brewery on Alte Schönhauserstraße. The name Bötzow was already a tradition at that time. It is one of the oldest families in Berlin. The name can be found in countless church and history books of Berlin. Carl and Franz Bötzow were already active in the distillery and brewery business in the 1840s. So, the “know-how” was already in the family.
High up on the Prenzlauer Berg, the “Bötzow-Berg”, there was enough space to build the brewery. The beer garden offered space for over 6,000 people, who visited the site every day, because here at the “purveyor to the court of His Majesty the King of Prussia” there was beer of the best quality. In the time after the war the area was misused. Instead of beer, tobacco products, canned goods and other everyday goods were stored here. The war had left its mark, many buildings were destroyed. A reopening of the brewery was out of the question at that time.
In the 2000s, the brewery lent itself as a film set; the campus can be seen in scenes from “Keinohrhasen” or “Unknown Identity”. Stores, clubs and workshops also found shelter in Bötzow’s hallowed halls, but only for a short time.
Magic from Chipperfield
After Näder acquired the Bötzow Brewery in 2010, it was time to find the right partner to implement the major project. The decision fell on the British star architect David Chipperfield. With the “Master Plan 2019” he developed a strategy for implementing the major transformation of the brewery into an urban district, but it has not yet been completed. At the moment, it is one of the largest construction projects in Berlin. At this point, Chipperfield has already been able to convince with the successful implementation of past projects. For example, the “Neue Nationalgalerie” can be attributed to him.
No time for awards
In December 2019, Näder received the Ferdinand von Quast Medal. This award is intended to recognize people, companies and institutions that have made a special commitment in the field of monument preservation and cultural protection. It has been awarded annually for 35 years. Hans Georg Näder, now owner of the Bötzow Brewery, however, had not been able to find time in his schedule for this honorable moment. Florian Lanz, who works in project management at the Bötzow Brewery and is a firm corporate partner of Näder, accepted the award on Näder’s behalf. Näder, who spends more than 200 days a year traveling within and outside Germany, did not comment on missing the award ceremony.
Current state of affairs
The reconstruction measures are in full swing on the Bötzow Campus. New buildings meet listed buildings. This is how new types of structures are being created. Construction cranes adorn the air, there is a lot of work going on, not only on the construction site but also in the buildings. The Ottobock Future Labs has been located there for several years. Since 2018, the Open Innovation Space has also been located in the Bötzow portfolio.
In September of each year, the doors on the site are open to visitors. Interested parties have the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the urban environment. In 2021, the campaign was themed “Sensual and Sensible”.