Positioned magnificently over the shimmering Athenian coastline, construction cranes are hard at work building what is poised to be a 50-story luxury tower that is a pivotal part of Greece’s future ‘smart city’ vision. Nestled on the Saronic Gulf, the whirl of activities echo across the site daily as the 8 billion euro (US$8.43 billion) venture, privately financed, takes shape. Many believers consider this groundbreaking initiative a beacon of Greek’s revival following a prolonged period of economic stagnation that sent investors into retreat. However, skeptics have labelled it as a potential ‘enclave for the affluent’.
Not far away from the Acropolis, about 10km to be exact, it’s fascinating to anticipate that a new city, rivaling ‘three times the size of Monaco’, is projected to emerge by 2036. Regarded as one of the most ambitious urban regeneration undertakings in Europe, the Ellinikon project’s blueprints comprise villas, twin hotels, shopping precincts, an educational institute, a marina, and an assortment of other structures.
Perhaps the crowning glory will be the Riviera Tower, destined to become Athens’ loftiest skyscraper upon its completion in 2026. According to estimates, approximately 30,000 inhabitants are likely to populate the 6.2 square kilometer area that used to house Athens’ erstwhile international airport. The dated terminal, a heritage site since the airport’s relocation in 2001, is set to be transformed into a gallery.
During the esteem 2004 Olympic Games, Ellinikon became the heart of sporting fixtures, playing host to athletic events like canoeing and hockey. However, post-Olympics, the facilities fell into neglect, compounded by the financial plaguing Greece. Community groups responded by establishing a self-managed garden, a local grocery store, and a complimentary medical clinic to supplement the gaps left by a nearly insolvent state.
In desperation, Athens was compelled to divest Ellinikon. In 2014, Lamda— a property development, investment, and management specialized holding company—emerged as the project’s new steward after offering less than 1 billion euros. The firm, a publically-traded entity chiefly owned by Greek tycoon Spiros Latsis, envisions Ellinikon as home to the ‘world’s biggest seafront park’, with green regions constituting one-third of the project’s area.
Pegged as a ‘smart city’, Ellinikon is anticipated to integrate state-of-the-art technology into its framework. ‘Developing from the ground up poses a great advantage. Cities like Singapore, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam have made tremendous strides technologically. But integrating their advancements into existing infrastructures posed meaningful challenges,’ an official commented.
Home to 8,000 to 9,000 residential units, the Riviera Tower, the city’s luxury focal point, features apartments priced up to 25 million euros. The entry-level prices start at approximately 400,000 euros— a figure many Athenians could find a hurdle to overcome, attracting critique.
Critics, like Nikos Belavilas, the director of the urban environment laboratory at the National Technical University of Athens, sees this initiative differently. ‘This is not just a property development plan, it’s an off-shore colony,’ he noted. He criticizes the impending social isolation linked with this community hidden away from the city, catering to the oil-rich with its towering skyscrapers and casinos at a time when Athens is in dire need of affordable housing for students and lower income groups.
Athens’ capital, known for its mishmash of streets and severely lacking in green spaces, thirsts for a solution. Ellinikon, with its planned parks and beaches, presented a golden opportunity for the creation of a sizeable urban green oasis, according to Belavilas. He drew parallels with the transformation of the former West Berlin airport—Tempelhof—into a large park in the city’s heart.
A significant number of Greek citizens are dismayed that the government let go of valuable property. Others see this project as an opportunity to revitalize Greece’s image internationally, scarred as it was due to the previous economic crisis. The expectation is that the initiative’s completion would restore the country’s reputation, creating up to 80,000 employment opportunities and increasing the Greek state’s tax revenues by over 14 billion euros.