The mood is noticeably charged, the volume level increases. Judge Isabel Liesegang sighs and tells the parties that you can’t talk about contract extensions now, “the way you’re at odds.” It’s about the Villa Flora in Sendling-Westpark and its use. The city wants to see a “Munich traditional economy” there, the decades-long tenant, the Munich Kindl GmbH, which has subleased to an event company, sees this as the downfall of the stately villa. Because more events than gastronomy for the general public are currently taking place there, the Münchner Kindl should pay a contractual penalty of half a million euros.
D-1-62-000-2393. This is the number in the Munich list of monuments behind which the Villa Flora is hidden. The two-storey hipped roof building was erected in 1874 by Josef Wolf in the Biedermeier style. There used to be a restaurant there with a beer garden and bowling alley, and in the 1930s the inn was a meeting place for the SPD. In 1937 the innkeeper was expropriated and the house went to the city of Munich. This was followed by a building yard and a dormitory as uses, then the building visibly fell into disrepair.
Until Dietrich Sailer from the Munich Kindl GmbH took over the villa on a leasehold in 1995, invested “three to four million”, as he says, and opened an “à la carte” restaurant. It was fine for about 20 years. But today, explains his son Luis, such an inn on the Mittlerer Ring no longer works. “There is no visitor traffic out there, companies like ADAC or Fraunhofer have their own canteens,” adds Brother Leo. “Roast pork every lunchtime, no one comes anymore.” That’s why we were happy when the event company Glanz & Gorilla took over. She offers private celebrations such as weddings or themed evenings such as “Spain”.
Exactly the latter is a thorn in the side of the city. Because she wrote in the long-term lease agreement that the Sailers should run a middle-class inn “Old Munich tradition” for large sections of the population. Otherwise, a contractual penalty of 39,000 euros per month is due. And since only 15 events were offered in the villa in 2022, for which admission was also required, the contractual penalty applies. “I can imagine that private weddings are much more lucrative for you,” says Henrike Butenberg, attorney for the city of Munich. “But we want both: events and an inn for the general public.”
An old Munich economy does not work on the Mittlerer Ring: The Sailers with father Dietrich and sons Luis (right) and Leo have therefore opted for event gastronomy.
(Photo: Susi Wimmer)
Hans Olschewski, the Sailers’ lawyer, is of the opinion that the contract with the fine is “not tenable anyway”. “I’m not so sure about that,” says the judge at the district court. “How do you want to define ‘old Munich tradition’,” he asks. “Well,” says Judge Liesegang, she understands this to mean an economy that you can go into without having to pay an entrance fee. “There were also events without admission,” says Leo Sailer. The traditional economy doesn’t work, “look at the Unionsbräu Haidhausen, they had to close,” the senior exclaims. If you impose this concept on this location, “then the Villa Flora dies”.
The debate is getting heated, after all it’s also about the fact that the contract only runs until 2044, “we want to invest in that,” says the senior boss. And that’s where judge Isabel Liesegang comes in, you really don’t need to talk about that. The city appealed that they sit down together, “we want a good relationship and a legally secure contract.” It is agreed to try mediation without lawyers, during which time the penalty will be waived. If the mediation bursts, you will meet again before the Munich Regional Court.