Joachim Herz House - Joachim Herz Stiftung

The Joachim Herz House southeast of Atlanta will become a lively place for transatlantic dialog and exchange. The house will provide guests from the USA, Germany and anywhere with an ideal place to discuss current events, explore future scientific developments as well as progress in education and urgent topics of society.

It all began with a personal connection: The close relationship that the founder Joachim Herz forged with the USA, was based on his enthusiastic views about the country and its people, their love of freedom and their individualism. Joachim Herz spent a lot of time in the USA, especially in Atlanta over the course of a few decades and was actively pursuing business interests here. At the end of the 1970s, He began to accumulate a real estate portfolio in the southeast of the USA, founded Coro Realty Advisors in 1997 to manage the properties and the portfolio. Today, the company still works for the Joachim Herz Foundation as well as third-party investors.

Joachim Herz on a walk at "Lake Achim". The first lake he created on his farm in Georgia.

Joachim Herz disliked staying in hotels, so in the early 1980s he looked for a farm in rural Georgia. He found what he was looking for in Newton County, southeast of Atlanta. A working cattle farm with a farmhouse was for sale. Over the years, Joachim Herz acquired more land, created lakes and expanded the modest home. He treasured the vastness and solitude and enjoyed the silence on his farm. In the mid-1990s, the opportunity arose to purchase more land and a larger house. This house served the Herz couple as their home for many years - and is currently being converted into a modern conference center.

The former home of Joachim Herz will become a place of exchange and dialog - it will also be the place where the transatlantic activities of the Joachim Herz Foundation have their anchor. In the foreseeable future, our partners on both sides of the Atlantic will be able to use Little Springs Farm for conferences, workshops and events in cooperation with international partners, thus promoting transatlantic exchange. The house will also be available to non-profit organizations from the surrounding area and Atlanta.

It is important for us to become part of the local ecosystem of educational institutions and NGOs via the Joachim Herz House.

"The Joachim Herz House embodies the spirit of our founder: his enthusiasm for the USA, his openness to the world and his desire to open up opportunities for young people and enable them to think outside the box. As part of the academic and civic networks in the southeastern United States, the Joachim Herz House is a place where the German-American dialog receives important impulses."

Ulrich Müller, Board of Directors

The single-story ranch house dates back to the 1960s and was built in the mid-century style with the typical corner windows and eaves. Joachim Herz later opted for a slate roof and designed the surrounding areas with boulders. The requirement for the architectural firm in Atlanta was to convert the house as sustainably as possible.

Renovations made so far:

Windows, electrics, pipework and insulation have been replaced, the reddish-brown bricks have been cleaned and re-raised. Local materials are preferred and the existing trees have been preserved. Solar cells ensure that the building can be powered 100 percent by renewable energy and electricity for electric cars will be available at two charging points. The roughly 2.300 foot (700 meter) runway that Joachim Herz had built as a passionate aviator, will be transformed into the new access road to the house to avoid additional asphalting of existing gravel farm roads.

Little Springs Farm has a total area of about 2.700 acres (10.7 km²), two thirds of which is leased to a cattle farmer and the wooded areas are used for timber business. Further data:

5.400 sq ft (500 m²) of event space in the Joachim Herz House 
one main room with space for up to 50 people
three group rooms and a back office
a new catering kitchen
modern, flexible furnishings
850 sq ft (80 m²) of surrounding patios and spacious outdoor seating to take in the stunning views of the property

We have decided not to build accommodation on the farm, as there are numerous different accommodation options nearby. The distance to the Atlanta International Airport is approximately 44 miles (70 km) (easily reached within one hour).

Main house of Little Springs Farm before the renovation

Spring 2024 is dedicated to the interior work, while the exterior design with light installations, roads and planting will begin in April, depending on the weather. In May, the furniture will be delivered and various pictures from Joachim Herzs' collection will be hung. The schedule envisions turn-key completion by Summer 2024.

The official opening of the Joachim Herz House will be on September 26, 2024.