WHU move: How Vallendar lost his university

The elite university WHU is moving from Vallendar in Rhineland-Palatinate to Düsseldorf. This is a shock for the community of 9,000 residents and is threatened with major losses. How could this come about?

Vallendar, Düsseldorf. On the wall behind Wolfgang Heitmann's desk hangs a historical painting of his hometown of Vallendar: church tower, evening sun, view of the Rhine. Nothing can be seen in this picture of what characterizes the city of 9,000 inhabitants today: the campus of the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, which extends across the entire town center.

The private business school has made Vallendar internationally known, says Heitmann, who runs the small town as an honorary mayor. “Several companies that have their roots in Vallendar are now unicorns,” he says – i.e. start-ups with a valuation of more than a billion dollars. For example Zalando, now Europe's largest online fashion retailer. The two founders, Robert Gentz ​​and David Schneider, met at the elite university and even shared a shared apartment here in Vallendar.

Like Mayor Heitmann, many people in Vallendar are proud to be the home of the talent pool of the German start-up scene. The shock was even greater when the university announced in mid-October that it would be giving up its location in Vallendar and moving it to Düsseldorf. And with it a lot of money that the students and employees brought with them.

Local politicians learned the news from the press. Heitmann was initially annoyed, then horrified. The departure of WHU is an “enormous loss” for his city – for the housing market, restaurants and retail. The small town is threatened with losses in sales amounting to millions and massive vacancies. What happens to a small town that has positioned itself so strongly as a university location if it loses that very university? And how could this happen?

Wolfgang Heitmann: “Together with WHU, we have undergone a development that is already exorbitant for such a small city.” Photo: Milena Merten

The Scientific University for Entrepreneurship (WHU) was founded in 1984 on the initiative of the Koblenz Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK). The teaching started in a disused elementary school. After four years, the private university needed more space and leased Marienburg Castle in the center of Vallendar.

Over the years, the campus expanded further and further within the small town. The university invested a total of around 30 million euros in the construction and purchase of buildings and land in Vallendar.

The university shapes the place: the WHU logo is emblazoned on more than a dozen buildings. Students push their way through the alleys, snatches of English words can be heard. Some are drawn to a café that serves matcha lattes and protein bowls, others to a bakery with “The finest chocolate buns!” in the window. advertises.

Vallendar: There are many lovingly renovated half-timbered buildings from the 17th century in the cityscape - some of which are owned by the WHU. Photo: Milena Merten

The money came into the city with the students. Several private investors bought dilapidated buildings, renovated them and converted them into student apartments. One of them is Nikolaus Schär. The Swiss native owns 104 furnished one-room apartments and 22 apartments in Vallendar. He rents them primarily to WHU students, for 20 euros rent per square meter.

Schär welcomes you in his all-glass office in Vallendar, with a serious look, simple shirt, Rolex on his wrist. Today he is primarily a real estate investor - the 65-year-old made a name for himself in another industry: he founded several techno festivals, including "Nature One", where more than 60,000 people celebrate every year at the former Pydna rocket base in the Hunsrück.

“We made money with the events,” says Schär with typical Swiss understatement. “Then the question came: What do we do with the money we’ve earned?” Schär bought real estate: in his hometown of Zurich and near his home in Bendorf. He invested almost 20 million euros in Vallendar alone.

The news of WHU's departure also surprised him. There have been rumors for a long time. Especially after WHU opened a second location in Düsseldorf in 2010. “But WHU has continued to invest in Vallendar – that was an indication to us that it wants to stay.”

If the almost 1,500 WHU students leave the town and no other educational institution follows, Schär believes the need for one-room apartments will decrease significantly. He says he will probably have to extensively renovate the properties and lower the rents.

The investments of the past few years have shaped the cityscape: many old buildings have been nicely renovated, with modern new WHU buildings in between. For a small town, Vallendar is remarkably well-equipped: several supermarkets, bakeries, pharmacies, owner-managed boutiques and stationery stores.

On the main road there is a city and congress hall that is oversized in relation to the number of inhabitants and was planned to be so large specifically for university events. Mayor Heitmann says: “Together with WHU, we have undergone a development that is already exorbitant for such a small city.”

Students and alumni of WHU repeatedly emphasize that the short distances and remoteness of Vallendar bring them together as a community. This creates a close network that they can still access as alumni. Heitmann also sees it that way: “They have built networks here that will last a lifetime,” he says. “That doesn’t work in a big city like Düsseldorf.”

A student stands with fellow students in front of the main building on Burgplatz. She says saying goodbye to Vallendar was “emotional” and that she was “attached to the location”. But now everyone has come to terms with it. They now see more clearly the “potential” for the WHU in the much larger Düsseldorf.

Not all of the city's residents are WHU fans

But the truth is that the small town and the university had a kind of love-hate relationship from the start. “Wash my fur, but don’t get me wet,” is how investor Schär describes it. On the one hand, Vallendar benefited from the purchasing power of the university's students and employees. The municipal administration estimates that the WHU has a direct financial impact of around 40 million euros in the region every year and that more than ten million euros are spent by students in the region.

But there is also the other side: residents have been complaining for years about rising rents, noisy student groups and occasional binge drinking. A bakery employee, for example, says that WHU's departure is having a significant economic impact on her. But: Then “maybe things will be a little quieter” in town.

Opinions differ as to how much Vallendar owes to WHU or vice versa. Also because - despite various efforts - it was never possible to keep the many companies that were created in the WHU environment in the region permanently. Most of the founders – like Zalando – moved to Berlin. This is mainly due to too few commercial spaces and a lack of access to technological expertise in the region. This is how Adolf Schneider, mayor of the municipality of Vallendar, which includes three other surrounding municipalities, sees it. His office is around the corner from Heitmann's small half-timbered town hall, in a much larger administration building.

This is what WHU alumni say about the planned campus move

"I have many wonderful memories of the campus and the warmth of the people in Vallendar. At the same time, I can only congratulate WHU on its decision to come to Düsseldorf. The cosmopolitanism and creative charisma that we found here inspired us at Tonies from day one. Just like for my family and me, Düsseldorf will also be a wonderful home for WHU - and WHU will be an additional enrichment for an already attractive and livable city."

"I think the decision for a new campus is right in order to position WHU for the future. In the Rhine and Ruhr area, the university benefits from the proximity to the many industrial and technology companies in the region."

"The move to Düsseldorf did not begin today, but in 2010. What is happening now is not a break with a tradition, but the consequence of a decision that has long since proven its worth. To be honest, I wonder why this step was not taken earlier. Of course, there is sadness when you think of Vallendar. But nostalgia is not a strategy. Strategy means opting for the greater opportunity and not for the nicer memory, and the opportunities at the new location are incomparably greater."

The non-partisan entrepreneur has been volunteering for WHU for years, including on the admissions committee. He said on the phone that he always maintained a “good exchange” with the university and also “mediated any discrepancies.” When asked about these discrepancies, he hints at different ideas about the selling prices of buildings, but he doesn't want to say anything more.

Restructuring backlogs and a failed sale put a strain on relationships

We have heard from WHU circles that about three years ago the university considered buying the Marienburg, the historic main building on Burgplatz, and the two adjacent buildings from the city. The city demanded a sum in the millions for this. A WHU spokeswoman says that the university “backed away from the idea” because of the conditions. Mayor Heitmann confirms that there were discussions about a possible sale of Marienburg. He doesn't know why WHU ultimately decided against the purchase.

Lack of fire protection: Several rooms in the WHU main building have been closed for months for fire safety reasons. Photo: Milena Merten

Several rooms in the baroque building from the 18th century are not usable. The vaulted cellar, where WHU traditionally hosted parties and events, has been closed since April 2025. The Goethe Room for smaller conferences, the chapel and the theater room are also not accessible. The rooms urgently need to be renovated for fire safety reasons. This is not an acceptable situation for a university that sees itself as a gathering place for the future elite.

Mayor Heitmann says that the WHU listed all the deficiencies during the negotiations for a new lease agreement. “We are committed to correcting the deficiencies.” He explains why the city hasn't done this so far with the processes: "If you have a large investment backlog, then you can't just hire a company today and have it implemented." The city council must decide on the renovation, release the funds, and then the tender will follow. “We are experiencing delays because we cannot simply hire specialist companies, but have to follow procedures in accordance with municipal regulations.”

The university, however, wants to grow. And sees itself in competition with business schools in Lisbon and Paris. Düsseldorf is significantly more international, easier to reach and closer to large companies, says the WHU spokeswoman.

Citizens should contribute ideas

For Vallendar the question now arises as to what happens next. A few days after the announcement and the ensuing state of shock, Mayor Heitmann wrote an open letter to the citizens of his city. In it he called for ideas for a long-term perspective for Vallendar. As a volunteer, he sees himself overwhelmed by the task: “We need a professional project manager for this conversion project who can handle it,” he says. Money needs to be found for this now.

However, the city doesn't have that. Heitmann contritely describes the financial situation as “catastrophic”. The city of Vallendar is planning a deficit of 1.6 million euros for 2026. Loan liabilities are expected to increase to around 19.8 million euros by the end of the year. The Marienburg closed with a deficit of around 800,000 euros, the large city and congress hall with a deficit of almost half a million euros. Heitmann says: “We will first have to go into further debt for this project.”

His ideal solution: a new education provider is needed. Then the many lecture hall buildings could continue to be used. A potential interested party has already contacted him: a private provider that operates and develops technical colleges. He can't say anything more about it at the moment. But one thing is clear: the city must use the eight years until WHU leaves to reposition itself.