The Greek government signed a deal with Lambda Development today equalling $1 billion for the transfer of the property where the old Athens Airport in Hellenikon was once located.
The deal has been in negotiating stages since 2010 but political infighting and resistance from various municipalities that touch the land, as well as technical and political hurdles have delayed the signing, which took place on June 7, 2016.
“By signing this new agreement for Hellenikon, the implementation of an investment which will leave its mark on the development of this country has taken its course,” Greece’s privatization agency chief Stergios Pitsiorlas said in its statement.
The deal calls for Lambda to pay the 915 million euro sum in installments by 2018 and spend about 8 billion euro to turn the 1500-acre seafront land into a seaside town of hotels, parks, cultural sites, residences and shops (see video below)
The complex will include the development of the largest park in Greece and one of the largest in the world.
Lamda said the project would create 70,000 jobs and would be concluded in 12 years.
See Lambda’s proposal for the development of the Hellenikon site here:
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2 comments
I am excited that the huge area of the old airport will be of use to the citizens and of profit to the state. The promotional video, however, although extremely well made to the international standards for real estate promotion, fails to address issues that should have been placed as priorities from both side, the owner and the developer, such as the sustainable nature of the future development, the preservation of parts of the historic terminal designed by Eero Saarinen in the sixties, and the preservation of identity within contemporary aesthetics. The mood that the clip promotes is similar to the development of Dubai and Miami, or the Athens Airport that lacks evidence of culture and character. Such issues should have been part of the sales agreement so the State could protect its citizens from possible schemes of speculatory greed. Let us hope that the said issues have been omitted from the promotional video clip and not from the program of the development.