Greek real estate developer Lamda Development has launched construction work on the €2.5 bn Ellinikon smart city project in Athens, Greece.
The company acquired the land for the project in 2014.
The first phase includes two hotels, retail areas, restaurants, waterfront villas, condominiums, a residential high-rise, a marina with capacity for 400 boats, a public beach and 40% green areas.
The development will provide 10,000 new homes, from rental flats to waterfront villas and Greece's first residential high-rise, the Marina Tower, encompassing 200 residences.
Ellinikon will also include a mixed-use tower with office space and a hotel, with connections to two metro stations and a new tram line.
On the sports side it will feature 20 tennis courts, six training centres for sports such as gymnastics and fencing, nine basketball courts and three Olympic swimming pools.
One of the attractions will be the Metropolitan Public Park covering an area of 2 million m2.
The first phase should be completed in 2025, while the whole project will be ready in 2029.
Named after a former airport, the Ellenikon will be built on space that also served as a Olympic village for the 2004 Summer Olympics.
The project is being financed through a rights issue, which yielded €652 mln, as well as two bond issues that generated €550 mln.
The Ellinikon is widely expected to contribute to the repositioning of Athens as a tourist destination, attracting at least one million people while significantly reducing seasonality.
