Media: Hellenikon By the Sea now rising from rubble of abandoned airport

Some 25 years after it was closed to make way for a replacement on a highway 20 miles northeast of the capital, the abandoned Hellenikon International Airport on Athens’ coast in 2026 is due to finish the first phase of construction.
It’s an 8-billion euro ($8.73 billion) ambitious plan to turn what’s now rubble on a plot twice the size of New York City Central Park into a mix of luxury high-rise condos, a luxury mall, a luxury marina for yachts, a casino, office and commercial space, and a park.

The site was destined to be only a park and would have been the largest urban green space in Europe before Greece’s economic and austerity crisis from 2010-18 turned the scheme toward commercial use to make money.
Greece’s Lamba development company bought out two foreign partners and was able to restart the project after it was blocked in 20151- during the reign of the then then-ruling anti-business, anti-foreign investor Radical Left SYRIZA.

Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with a banker’s background, moved to restart it after being elected in 2019 and SYRIZA, as he did again now in the 2023 elections, and is pushing the development.

In a feature, the Bloomberg financial news agency said that within three years from now – while the Eero Saarinen-designed East Terminal will remain in place, abandoned hangars and runways will be replaced by a smart city.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-02/athens-moves-forward-on-transformative-coastline-development

Within three years, the 650-acre site along the southeast coast of Athens will feature around 10,000 upmarket beachfront homes and apartments, a Mandarin Oriental hotel, one of Southern Europe’s largest malls, a marina for mega-yachts, a Hard Rock-branded casino, a state-of-the-art sports complex, a private school, cultural and entertainment centers, a sprawling beach and a 21,527,580 square foot park overlooking the Saronic Gulf.

“This privately-funded project, called the Ellinikon, will, in short, transform the Greek capital,” said the site, noting that at its inaugural in October 2022, Mitsotakis said it’s “the prologue to a new era for the coast.”

It’s expected to generate more than 14 billion ($15.2 billion) in tax revenue during its 25-year development lifecycle and be the end piece of a three-piece link of development along the coast.

That will stretch from the port of Piraeus some 9.5 miles north, being renovated by the Chinese management firm COSCO to Hellenikon, with the $861 million Stavros Niarchos Cultural Foundation Center in the middle.

It gives Athens, one of the few major European cities without a river – an ancient river was filled in for development to make money long spent – one of the most impressive stretches of attractions on the continent.

The site noted that many major construction projects in the world are being delayed because of rising costs, interest rates, and labor shortages but that Hellenikon is going ahead, already bringing excitement to the city.

BIG HOPES

“With the country still getting back on its feet after a decade-long debt crisis, the Ellinikon is being stood up as a symbol of Athens’ revival,” said Bloomberg, the grimy concrete capital nevertheless having a buzz with its tavernas, cafes, and bars, young people congregating, funky neighborhoods and new hotels popping up.

It’s a far cry from the 2010-18 economic and austerity crisis that was a near-depression and turned the city into a pool of misery for many, with record unemployment, construction essentially halted, and gloom everywhere.

Mitsotakis has been a key, his government luring foreign investors as well and spurring a recovery after lifting COVID-19 health measures in 2022 that saw a resurge in tourists who are the country’s biggest revenue engine.

Hellenikon, when done, will be another major attraction although it’s not been said how it will handle traffic along a seacoast road already notorious for major backups, but there’s a subway stop and tram line nearby.

“This energy is felt on the streets. Athens cafes and tavernas buzz every night of the week, and tourists mill around squares where rioters once clashed with police,” the site said, and luxury hotels compete for affluent travelers.

Lamda began selling residential properties in the 656-foot Riviera Tower – soon to be the country’s tallest building — with an average price of €14,000 ($15,277) a square meter (10.7 square feet.)

So far, all 170 units in the tower have been sold, with the vast majority going to Greek residents and members of the Greek Diaspora with sales and leases already hitting €1.2 billion ($1.31 billion) but driving up prices in abutting areas.

Constantinos Zouzoulas, Managing Director of Axia Ventures Group Ltd, the investment banking group that focuses on Cyprus, Greece and Italy, expects that the Ellinikon will help extend the tourism season Greece wants to be year-round.

“Our conservative estimates are that the Ellinikon will add 2.5 percent to Greek GDP through completion and attract 1.5 million tourists” a year, Lamda CEO Odisseas Athanasiou told Bloomberg in an interview.

The Ellinikon is a “landmark project that will be a game changer for Athens, its greater Attica region, and Greece as a whole,” said Zouzoulas, adding that this city-within-a-city will also attract new residents to the area.

It is 6.8 miles from the city center, reachable by subway and tram, and bus, and will feature walking and bicycling areas and paths although it’s been said if the whole waterfront area will be available to the public, the country allows private developers everywhere to seize them for profit.

The park, in particular, “is a much-needed proposition in a city that lacks green space,” Zouzoulas said, Athens was dominated by ugly concrete buildings from a post-WWII rush to create residences.

He said that it will be integrated into Athens if infrastructure obstacles can be overcome and that The Ellenikon as it will be called “will further improve the urban landscape and the lifestyle of citizens.”