A huge complex of houses, hotels, marinas and much more is being built along the Athens coast
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(Bloomberg) — On the southern coast of the Greek capital, a long-awaited plan to transform the city’s former airport into Europe’s largest smart city is finally gaining momentum.
After a decade of delays, a vision of the Ellinikon is emerging. The Marina Tower, soon to be Greece’s first skyscraper, begins to rise. The iron skeletons of condominiums are taking shape. Standing at the marina and seeing the Saronic Gulf on one side and the Tower on the other, one can imagine the city of the future, which will have open spaces, sustainable energy sources and lush green spaces that Athens currently lacks.
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“There was legitimate incredulity in the early days of the project,” Odisseas Athanasiou said in an interview. Athanasiou is chairman of Lamda, the developer behind the multi-use development.
Spanning 6,200 hectares, 20 minutes’ drive outside Athens, Ellinikon will transform both the coast and the land. It’s a project like those typically seen in China or the United Arab Emirates, and it’s a sign of Greece’s post-crisis revival and the resulting investor enthusiasm. Developers estimate that when it is completed in 2037, it will be able to increase Greece’s GDP by 2.5 percentage points, create up to 80,000 new jobs and generate tax revenues of more than 10 billion euros Choose an integrated casino resort.
Greece’s tourism sector has recovered since the Covid era, with 32 million visitors last year and 2024 is on track to see a record number of arrivals.
For those wishing to stay permanently, 243 units have already been put up for sale and 140 have been reserved. Marina Tower’s apartments, beach villas and condominiums sold out first, and Lamda announced earlier this month that proceeds from property sales in March last year totaled 641 million euros. The majority of buyers were Greek citizens and the city is expected to house up to 20,000 people in around 10,000 apartments over the next 13 years.
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Building on the urban planning concept of the 15-minute city, residents of Ellinikon will be able to reach schools, parks, offices, shops and even the beach in less than fifteen minutes. Software will be installed throughout the complex to monitor waste, water and energy services. “It’s a consistently smart city,” Athanasiou said, adding: “We like to call it ‘postcode paradise’.”
The process of getting Ellinikon off the ground was not smooth. When Lamda bought the property in 2014, parts of it were littered with the ruins of the former airport – including abandoned planes – while other parts housed refugees and illegal migrants. The beach was dotted with nightclubs and long-forgotten sports complexes. Delays in the approval process further delayed matters, and the fact that Greece was effectively bankrupt when the project was proposed made it seem even less likely that it would ever come to fruition.
“We had a construction sector in Greece that was at its lowest level in ten years due to the crisis,” explained Athanasiou. “People had left the country and construction companies were no longer as strong as they used to be. Increased construction costs due to the energy crisis following the Ukraine incident exacerbated this situation.”
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Although these challenges have eased, Lamda was and is still struggling with a labor shortage. Around 7,000 workers will be needed when construction work on the Ellinikon shopping center begins next year. Lamda currently employs about 2,000 workers and is in advanced discussions with contractors about importing construction workers from other countries.
Still, Athanasiou described the company’s biggest challenge as its “lack of credibility.” Before construction began, the CEO said: “You had a bankrupt country, a project huge even by European standards, not to mention Greece, and a company that had never taken on a project like this before.”
However, with the realization of the new city, these obstacles have gradually disappeared.
By the end of the summer, seven new condo buildings will be visible from the waterfront in addition to the skyscraper under construction. By the end of the year, the tower will have reached a height of 100 meters (330 feet) and the number of seafront residential buildings under construction will have increased to 15. By the end of 2025, a sports center with soccer fields and tennis courts will be built and swimming pools will be opened to the public.
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“By Christmas 2026,” Athanasiou said, “we want residents to be living in their homes.”
As the Greek economy recovers from its decade-long crisis, there is renewed interest among investors. The country was awarded investment grade status by two of the three major credit rating firms last year, and investors flocked to the Athens Stock Exchange amid a successful initial public offering from Athens International Airport and share sales in the country’s top banks.
Although Lamda shares have risen by almost 16% in 2023, they remain at around 7 euros, which Athanasiou attributes to the general crisis in the real estate market. “Our strategic goal is to diversify capital goods, shopping centers and marinas,” said the CEO. The company has recruited potential investors in the UK and US for Ellinikon’s marinas and is waiting for the right time to launch an IPO for its shopping centres.
There is also reason to believe that Ellinikon will be profitable from now on. Lamda was bought by the Greek state in 2014 for 915 million euros, was back in the black in 2023 and beach residences are now being sold for up to 15,000 euros per square meter. “There is enormous hidden value in company results,” claims Athanasiou. The offers for land around the shopping center and offices are also over 2,000 euros per square meter. “That’s almost three times the value in our books,” he noted.
In short, optimism is high. And as for concerns that tourists flocking to Athens might be more interested in the ancient city’s historic sights than its cutting-edge amenities, Lamda’s CEO isn’t worried.
“Is there a reason why someone who visits Ellinikon would choose not to also visit the Acropolis or Sounio?” Athanasiou wondered. At the same time, “Is there a way they could hear about a place nearby with the tallest buildings, five skyscrapers and a casino resort, and decide to just stay on the Acropolis?”
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