{"id":4241,"date":"2024-09-12T14:10:36","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T12:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lama-fortune.com\/?p=4241"},"modified":"2025-02-13T14:10:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T13:10:20","slug":"nele-van-damme-and-koenraad-belsack-fortune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.lama-fortune.com\/en\/nele-van-damme-et-koenraad-belsack-fortune\/","title":{"rendered":"Nele Van Damme and Koenraad Belsack: Founders of Upgrade Estate with a fortune of 100 million Euros"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Nele Van Damme<\/strong> and <strong>Koenraad Belsack<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Koenraad Belsack<\/strong> and <strong>Nele Van Damme<\/strong> founded <strong>Upgrade Estate<\/strong> in 1999. Their first business was based on <strong>a <a href=\"https:\/\/lama-fortune.com\/stephan-conter-stephex\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"536\">foodtruck<\/a> at the Ghent Festival<\/strong>. They used these funds to buy and convert a house into student accommodation. With initial success, <strong>they sold the property but continued to manage the rentals at the buyer's request.<\/strong> Nele <a href=\"https:\/\/lama-fortune.com\/alexandre-van-damme-fortune-ab-inbev\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"3783\">Van Damme<\/a> and Koenraad Belsack have a fortune of over \u20ac106,267,270. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"560\" src=\"https:\/\/lama-fortune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/nele-1024x560.jpg\" alt=\"photo by Nele Van Damme \" class=\"wp-image-7202\" style=\"width:622px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.lama-fortune.com\/2024\/09\/nele-1024x560.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.lama-fortune.com\/2024\/09\/nele-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.lama-fortune.com\/2024\/09\/nele-768x420.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.lama-fortune.com\/2024\/09\/nele.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nele Van Damme <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Upgrade Estate has quickly conquered the<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/lama-fortune.com\/serge-hannecart-himmos\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"554\">student rental<\/a> in Ghent, with over 1,200 rooms.<\/strong> Other cities such as Kortrijk, Bruges, Mons, Antwerp and Brussels followed suit, adding around 1,000 more rooms under their management. In addition to student accommodation, they also manage around 400 apartments. Their most recent expansion is in Hasselt.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"614\" src=\"https:\/\/lama-fortune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/up.jpg\" alt=\"Multi-million euro kot building for the Upkot company created by Nele Van Damme and Koenraad Belsack\" class=\"wp-image-7206\" style=\"width:420px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.lama-fortune.com\/2024\/09\/up.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.lama-fortune.com\/2024\/09\/up-300x240.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Upgrade Estate's business model is based on an original concept involving private investment. <strong>More than a thousand private investors own shares in the company's projects, each receiving the same return.<\/strong> This model prevents the purchase of individual rooms or studios, simplifying overall management.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"479\" src=\"https:\/\/lama-fortune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/logo-upkot-witvlak-1024x479.png\" alt=\"Upkot company logo by Nele Van Damme and Koenraad Belsack\" class=\"wp-image-7208\" style=\"width:492px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/old.lama-fortune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/logo-upkot-witvlak-1024x479.png 1024w, https:\/\/old.lama-fortune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/logo-upkot-witvlak-300x140.png 300w, https:\/\/old.lama-fortune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/logo-upkot-witvlak-768x359.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In 2021, <strong>UPscale Invest<\/strong>Upgrade Estate's holding company, represented <strong>investments of 202 million euros.<\/strong> The entire Upgrade group manages a<strong> invested assets of 505 million euros.<\/strong> Koenraad Belsack and Nele Van Damme have diversified their initiatives to include office real estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nele Van Damme adds to their real estate portfolio by investing in hotels on the Belgian coast, acquiring three hotels in Blankenberge. The coastal region represents a new dimension to their real estate investment strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/lama-fortune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Upgrade-Estate4-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"photo of Nele Van Damme and Koenraad Belsack and their millions of euros\" class=\"wp-image-7212\" style=\"width:558px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.lama-fortune.com\/2024\/09\/Upgrade-Estate4-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.lama-fortune.com\/2024\/09\/Upgrade-Estate4-scaled-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.lama-fortune.com\/2024\/09\/Upgrade-Estate4-scaled-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.lama-fortune.com\/2024\/09\/Upgrade-Estate4-scaled-1-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nele Van Damme and Koenraad Belsack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In short, Upgrade Estate, headed by Belsack and <a href=\"https:\/\/lama-fortune.com\/jean-claude-van-damme-fortune\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"4335\">Van Damme<\/a>has left an indelible mark on the student real estate market and other real estate sectors in Belgium. <strong>Nele Van Damme<\/strong> and <strong>Koenraad Belsack<\/strong> have succeeded in creating a handsome estate worth over 100 million euros. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nele Van Damme and Koenraad Belsack, co-founders of Upgrade Estate, have built a student real estate empire in Belgium, with over 2,200 rooms under management. Their innovative business model based on private investment has led to a fortune estimated at over 100 million euros, making them key figures in the Belgian real estate market.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50,105,23,24,114],"tags":[5,51,113,27,25,26],"class_list":["post-4241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-construction","category-horeca","category-immobilier","category-promoteur-immobilier","category-service","tag-belgique","tag-construction","tag-femme","tag-flandre","tag-immobilier","tag-promoteur-immobilier"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":50,"label":"Construction"},{"value":105,"label":"Horeca"},{"value":23,"label":"Immobilier"},{"value":24,"label":"Promoteur 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Moth\u00e9","author_link":"https:\/\/old.lama-fortune.com\/en\/author\/mmothe\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":50,"name":"Construction","slug":"construction","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":50,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":95,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":50,"category_count":95,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Construction","category_nicename":"construction","category_parent":0},{"term_id":105,"name":"Horeca","slug":"horeca","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":105,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":21,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":105,"category_count":21,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Horeca","category_nicename":"horeca","category_parent":0},{"term_id":23,"name":"Immobilier","slug":"immobilier","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":23,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":274,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":23,"category_count":274,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Immobilier","category_nicename":"immobilier","category_parent":0},{"term_id":24,"name":"Promoteur 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