An $8.2 billion 'smart city' twice the size of Central Park is rising in Greece, complete with luxury homes for sale at New York prices. Take a look inside.
Zoe Rosenberg
The first phase of The Ellinikon, which is rising on the site of Athens' old airport, will be complete in 2026.Sasaki
- The Ellinikon is an in-progress "smart city" that's coming to a former airport site near Athens.
- It will have a large park, homes, hotels, shops, a marina, and 31 miles of walking and biking paths.
The Ellinikon is a planned city of 2.3 square miles on the outskirts of Athens. It will be about twice the size of Central Park and three times the size of Monaco, with the first phase slated for completion in 2026.
Sasaki
The project takes its name from the former Hellinikon Airport, which shuttered in 2001 and is part of the site on which The Ellinikon is being built. The site also housed facilities for the 2004 summer Olympics.
Getty Images
The Ellinikon aims to be a "smart city," which McKinsey defines as a place that puts data and digital technology to work to improve the quality of life. Every element should be walkable within 15 minutes.
Sasaki
It will include high-end shopping, restaurants, housing, an athletic club, hotels, office space, a sprawling public park, and a golf course. Currently the site is home to the Ellinikon Experience Center and Park, where visitors can get an idea of what's to come.
Nikolas Kominis
The project's first phase includes two hotels, shopping and dining destinations, seaside villas, condos, a residential high-rise, a 400-berth marina, a public beach, and 40% of the park. It's expected to cost $2.56 billion.
Sasaki
One of three shopping areas, the Marina Galleria, is designed by Japanese architecture firm Kengo Kuma & Associates. It will have storefronts for high-end international retailers as well as well-established Greek designers.
Kengo Kuma & Associates
In addition to another mall with international brands of varying price points, The Ellinikon will also have a big-box retail park for brands equivalent to Walmart and Costco.
Kengo Kuma & Associates
The city will eventually have a total of 10,000 new residences, from rental apartments to seaside villas to Greece's first residential high-rise, Marina Tower, designed by Foster + Partners.
Tombazis & Associates
The "athletic precinct" will be home to 20 tennis courts, six training halls for sports like gymnastics and fencing, nine basketball courts, and three Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Foster + Partners
The development will also include a high-rise office tower that will become Greece's tallest commercial building; a mixed-use tower with office space, a hotel for business travelers, and low-rise offices. It will also have a connection to two metro stations and a new tram line.
Foster + Partners
Interlaced with 31 miles of walking and biking paths, The Ellinikon's Metropolitan Park will nearly double the existing green space per capita for Athenians. The park, by United States-based urban planning and design firm Sasaki, will have over 1 million new plants.
Dimitris Spyrou
The 200-residence Marina Tower designed by Foster + Partners — a firm helmed by acclaimed English modernist architect Norman Foster — is already sold out in presales. As have 27 seaside villas, and 115 cove residences, bringing in a total of $1.02 billion.
Foster + Partners
Pricing for the development's more high-end units, including the Marina Tower, villas, and cove residences, starts at about $853 per square foot and reaches up to about $2,842 per square foot. Manhattan's median asking price per square foot was $1,580 in June 2022, according to StreetEasy, putting The Ellinikon's premium residence prices on par with New York pricing.
The Ellinikon
Marina Tower is divided into two halves but is united by multiple platforms containing swimming pools.
Foster + Partners
Majority of the residential buyers so far have been Greek, Lamda Development CEO Odisseas Athanasiou told Insider. The project will begin courting foreign buyers later this year. Lamda Development acquired the land in 2014 and started construction in 2021.
Lamda Development
Lambda tapped Hard Rock International to bring Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Athens to the site by 2026. It will have 200 gaming tables, 2,000 gaming machines, and a tower with more than 1,000 guest rooms, a convention space, high-end shops, and the highest rooftop terrace in Athens, according to a June statement.
The Ellinikon
The roughly 1-square-mile Ellinikon Park will be irrigated with recycled waste water and collected rain water. Sensors placed throughout the grounds will monitor for when street and path lights are needed, working to conserve energy.
The Ellinikon
The public hasn't always been in favor of the project. "When it started it faced a lot of criticism because big deals in Greece, especially before the [debt] crisis, were criticized that something suspicious was behind it," Athanasiou told Insider.
Demolition of the Hellinikon Airport in July 2020. Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images
In late 2014, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras renegotiated Lamda's contract to require more public open space in the development, the Greek Reporter said. The project also faced political backlash and concerns over potential archeological finds at the site.
"It took many years for things to develop because of the Greek public administration," he told Insider in July, adding that he thinks public opinion has come around. "People started to see the benefits of the project. Not only GDP but employment, the environment."
The Ellinikon is expected to bring a much-needed boost to Greece's economy, which was hit hard by the country's decade-long debt crisis and the pandemic.
Sasaki
Lamda anticipates that the development will contribute 2.5% to Greece's GDP and provide 75,000 jobs.
The project is being funded through a rights issue, which brought in $665 million, as well as two bond issues that brought in about $562 million and were "the most successful in the history of Greece," according to Athanasiou. He said 75% of the bonds were bought by everyday people. The remainder of the cost is made up in loans and internal funding.
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