About HardtRock
My career took off at Deka Immobilien (2001–2005), one of Germany’s leading institutional investors. There, I was responsible for a €570 million, 157,000 sqm portfolio of office, retail, and logistics assets. This included the development of the Frankfurt landmark office building 'Herriot’s' (€124 million / 43,000 sqm) and the leasing of more than 42,000 sqm to tenants like IBM, Nike, FIAT, Nortel, and FIFA.
It was real estate in its most core, institutional form.
Then, in 2005 I said to myself...
'Let's bring Rock back into Real Estate'
London Calling
During my Deka years, I completed a UK based Master, which introduced me to the UK investment universe and its more international, capital-markets-driven approach.
Soon later, London based Alpha Real Capital invited me to materialise and lead their plans for a German income fund.
Thirty-one transactions later, I had gained a reputation as a reliable fund manager and deal-maker of complex cross-border transactions.
More importantly, I learned, that beauty in real estate lays in the eyes of the beholder as over the years, I regularly earned higer returns with unglamourus, unspectacular assets than with prominent, glassy highrisers.
Crisis Mode
The transition to Goldman Sachs / Archon represented a pivotal stage.
Post-Lehman, I was given responsibility for the firm’s €1.5 billion Central Region portfolio - 650,000 sqm across multiple asset classes.
Operating under severe capital constraints, I focused on cash preservation, strategic exits, and ensuring the delivery of the business plan to wind down operations in Germany.
Whilst occupancy improved from 67% to 74%, over 400 lease agreements were successfully negotiated, and €640 million in disposals supported the portfolio’s orderly transition.
It was asset management under fire, and - after the dot.com crisis, was the second time I had to deliver results despite the market turning against the odds.
Deal Driven
Subsequent mandates with VALAD Europe, Blackstone, Oxford Properties, and Civitas expanded my scope into the private equity sphere of higher risk-return profiles.
I establishd Blackstone’s German headquarters, hired and lead the team, helped repositioning landmark assets like the Pollux building in Frankfurt, as well as sourcing Berlin's Treptowers.
At Oxford I oversaw the integration of the Sony Center into the European portfolio. These positions required not only rigorous investment accumen, but also conviction-driven strategies in markets where capital deployment carried elevated risk and complexity.
Beyond The Transactions
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My nomination as Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, or other professional and academic credentials like panel memberships at leading German research institutes or lecturer at the Akademie der Immobilienwirtschaft are just part of a life long learning committment.
At Oxford and MIT, I recently studied the implementation of AI driven decision-making tools on board level as well as the automatisation of processes in the property management machinery room.
Being allowed to operate across both, board-level strategy and operational execution - to adapt to different international culture- and organizational styles and to anticipate and respond to ever changing market dynamics is what fascinates me about the real estate industry to this day. Tbc...