Casino permit key to Elliniko plans
The first landmark construction to be built on the site of Athens’s former international airport at Elliniko as soon as the privatization procedure is finalized will be an integrated casino resort facing the Aghios Cosmas marina.
This will be a big complex combining multiple uses, and will include a building which has been described as equal in volume to a skyscraper of 40-45 levels. On the other side of the complex, the chosen bidder will erect a similar landmark building in terms of size and architecture, which will only be used for accommodation purposes.
Lamda Development and Hellinikon Global I SA (the latter of which will undertake the management of the construction) will start with the hotel unit, which will be able to offer immediate returns. This unit will also breathe some new life into the Elliniko plot that today has an atmosphere of decay about it – with the exception of a few spots.
Alongside the casino resort, the investing consortium will begin renovating the 1,000-meter Aghios Cosmas beach, where there are currently numerous illegal buildings, mostly former nightclubs, that are slowly crumbling.
The level of the initial investment cannot be assessed before the licenses are issued, sources close to the project say. “The investor, with the cooperation of the architects it has hired, has presented an idea. If this idea is not supported by the relevant license, then the cost will be drastically altered,” a source explained. What is certain is that the two developments – the resort and the beach – constitute an investment worth tens of millions of euros.
That is why Lamda Development is eager to hear about the government’s decisions on the casino permit, which may not concern the investor himself, but it is key for the start of the investment project and the reduction of the risk it entails. The casino permit will likely be secured by a casino management company that will have to reach a decision in cooperation with Hellinikon Global as regards the location of the casino within the complex.
