Bild: Keystone
For all those who want to survive the crises of the time in the most beautiful surroundings, a kind of “Noah’s Ark” for the rich and beautiful is to be created in the Kitzbühel Alps. Not everyone is excited.
The Six Senses resort at Pass Thurn in Mittelsill at around 1200 meters is one of the “Austria’s most controversial tourism projects”, as the “Standard” writes. The luxury chalets planned here have been in the public eye for around three years. But now the project is being completely reinvented.
For this purpose, the Website the real estate developer from Kitzbüheler Alps on drastic pictures with a clear message: environmental pollution, viruses, genetically modified food, social isolation or a gigantic blackout: these are the problems that await mankind. Luckily, there is also a solution: the real estate developers of the Kitzbüheler Alps have nothing less than a “self-sufficient Noah’s Ark” in mind.
As the creators of the project, which belongs to the “Six Senses” hotel chain, explain on their website, the “challenge of this time” is seen as a “mission for the future”. You have to break out of the mainstream, “rethink all processes and structures of life and create an environment that respectfully connects nature and people with each other,” it says full-bodied.
A villa costs 15 million euros
In order to live up to this claim, a special kind of refuge is to be built at Pass Thurn between the Austrian states of Tyrol and Salzburg. 13 villas, 33 apartments, a hotel and a spa with 3000 square meters are planned – of course largely self-sufficient.
Of course, you don’t get “individual security” cheaply in the “natural jewel”. The offer at the top end, a fully furnished villa with 430 square meters of living space, is intended according to the “mirror” cost about 15 million euros.
Nonetheless, the project developers get more than a dozen inquiries a day, they told the news magazine. Accordingly, there should already be first degrees. Among the interested parties, almost all of whom come from Switzerland, Austria and Germany, are successful entrepreneurs and former athletes. However, families with children “who share our ideas” would be preferred when awarding the contract, the “Spiegel” quotes the makers as saying.
“Scientology-like anticipation for lowland autistics”
In order to increase the buying incentive among the financially strong clientele, 50 winners, who had to apply in advance via questionnaires and zoom interviews, would also be determined. You would have to answer the following questions: “Do you have the feeling that the world is changing?” or: “How important is security and protection to you?”
However, the luxury residential complex has not yet got off to a smooth start. In the past, “an incredible number of mistakes were made,” the news magazine quoted PR officer Anton Santner as saying. The resort’s location is still listed on the website as “in the Hohe Tauern National Park”, which is not entirely true. In addition, Porsche has jumped off as a sponsor, which is why the original plan that every buyer would get an e-Porsche for free is no longer feasible.
And although all the “permits and permits” for the construction have now been obtained and the wishes of the population should also be included in the project, as Santner told the Austrian portal meinbezirk.at said, it continues to hail criticism. According to “Spiegel”, the Tyrolean photographer Lois Hechenblaikner, who has long criticized the overwhelming tourism in his homeland, spoke of a “Scientology-like pre-selection for lowland autistic people” in view of the selection process for the resort.
“Leaving the challenges of this time behind”
Marlene Rainer, currently chairwoman of the association for the Wasenmoos nature reserve, and who lives diagonally across from the construction site, is also not very impressed with her “Noah’s Ark” prospects. As she said, helicopters with interested parties kept flying in, but they left the construction site after just a few minutes. She could “not explain to this day” how the investors got the permits. Even without an apocalypse, the conditions are no longer tenable for them. “I’ve only had dirt and noise here for 15 years, I’m moving away,” said Rainer.
Despite criticism and the threat of the end of the world, project developer and co-owner Michael Staininger sees a rosy future. Thanks to solar energy, geothermal energy and two Alpine springs, the resort will be self-sufficient and also a place where you can “leave everyday life and the challenges of this time behind”, quotes the “Spiegel”.