This week one of the most demanding corporate relocations will take place in the center of Athens. Hundreds of its employees Eurobank they will abandon it Bodosaki Mansion which housed them until Friday, as the historic building on Amalias Street (and until today the headquarters of the bank) is changing times. After a relevant tender, it was leased to the Hellenic Parliament in order to house its services, which are currently housed in scattered buildings around Syntagma Square. This development caused a wave in the Athens real estate market. Everyone assumed that the discount process would attract adults hotel groups, probably from abroad and without previous presence in Greece. The spot was ideal (opposite the National Garden) for a high-end unit. But in the end none of this happened.
Two and a half kilometers west, at number 44 Piraeus Street, in a quite different urban environment, the exuberant investors of the Israeli interests of the Brown group were planning another hotel of the well-known chain in the wider area of Omonia. Finally, in mid-summer, there was an abrupt change of course. Instead of a tourist accommodation, the creation of a residential complex with 210 luxury apartments and the brand “Urban City 44“, in a project that is largely managed by a Greek real estate development company, the Astrea Properties. The new complex is built in the logic of corresponding metropolitan developments abroad, with all the relevant services and amenities: private gym, continuous security, business center, swimming pool, yoga area, etc. A few months later, 70% of the apartments have already been sold. However, the future tenants of “Urban City 44” will not feel like a fly in the ointment. Corresponding residential projects are underway or planned in its area Omonias (Patision Street, Hauteia)in the contribution of Sofokleous and Aiolos Streets (former Commercial Bank Building)in September 3rdon the street Feidi but also in Metsin another particularly prime property on the boulevard Ardittou overlooking the Acropolis that many discounted as ideal for tourist development, but is also being converted into a long-term rental housing complex by Noval Property of the group Biochalco.
So what’s going on? Could one argue that we are leaving the days of touristic monoculture behind and shifting towards a more pluralistic model of urban development that encourages mixed uses and puts housing at the center of the Athenian map for the first time? And on the other, less optimistic side of the moon: can the combination of tourism and lofts aimed at upper-middle income classes limit the enormous damage that has been done to the soft underbelly of Athenian commerce?
Rebound duration
But let’s start from the beginning: is the hotel market really slowing down? His appointed counsel Alexandros Thanos of the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises it doesn’t have that image. He points out that neither there is any relevant evidence, nor is there anything visible in the immediate future that would indicate a kind of stagnation or even more of a setback for the tourism product of Athens, “however sensitive or exposed it is to extraordinary and unpredictable conditions”. Rather, he would argue the exact opposite: “There is a high expectation for the next day, everything suggests that the rebound of the market in the post-pandemic period was not only temporary, but confirms the establishment of Athens as a standalone travel destination with two or even three nights on average condition and remarkable occupancies at levels above 70% during the winter months, which are not the peak season for the city. These factors alone are not discouraging for investors. I would say, therefore, that Athens has acquired its own dynamism by seducing its market real estate in new, multi-layered models that combine tourism (in its most traditional form) with permanent or short-term residence, leisure and commerce. See what happens with the Hilton, which in my opinion prescribes a new, more complex reality and which will focus on more tailor made, more personalized services and experiences that will appeal to a wider range of customers, from casual visitors to digital nomads. It is an ongoing phenomenon with dynamic characteristics that redefines the very concept of “hotel” as we know it”.
The modern model of urban development is not only about tourism, but puts housing at the center of the Athenian map.
Complementing what Mr. Alexandros Thanos says, Brown’s initiative to transform one of its hotels in the center of Athens (the “Dave Red Athens» on the street Veranzerou) in digital nomad-friendly accommodation, the new “Eldorado” of the global travel market: with new co-working spaces, high-speed Wi-Fi access, comfortable workstations, exclusive discounts at local restaurants, housekeeping services and connectivity with other co-working spaces in the city.
The rebirth of the Stadium
Athenian tourism may show no sign of abating its dynamism for the foreseeable future, but it appears that undercurrents are developing and business alliances are being forged behind the scenes that resist a one-themed version of the city center. The decisions, for example, of two large systemic banks (Eurobank and Piraeus) not to move their central facilities to Elliniko, but to remain in the center of Athens, give the kiss of life to one of the city’s most troubled streets, the street Stadium. Many of the Eurobank employees who are leaving the Bodosaki Building these days will settle in the “green” building that was completed just a few weeks ago at the junction of Stadiou and Omirou Street, at the old headquarters of the insurance company “Palm tree». The offices of the bank’s president and CEO will also be located here, Giorgos Zanias and Phokion Caravia. The same bank recently bought one of the largest (and most imposing) properties in the Stadium, the old hotel “Athena Pallas“, at the corner with the street Kolokotroni, to turn it into its headquarters when the foundation works are completed. It is considered the “market of the year” for the real estate sector, as Eurobank’s aggressive move has sidelined large hotel groups that had shown interest in its headquarters until now Capital Market Commission. In addition, Eurobank also drops anchor in its old headquarters Postal Savings Bank, Stadium and Pesmazoglou. Accordingly, Piraeus Bank, after the collapse of the plans to move to Elliniko, proceeded with its own checkmate moves, expanding in the following years to Serpieri Mansion (University and Eduardou Lo), at its old headquarters Agricultural Bankbut also in two neighboring buildings.
THE Alpha in its turn, it is renovating its facilities in building blocks on and around Stadiou Street, while National Bank is moving methodically to expand it to prestigious buildings in old Stock Exchange and not only. “The stay of the four systemic banks in Stadiou with dynamic movements in its buildings lays the foundations for the regeneration of this very important street”, says to “K” senior executive at a property development company who wishes to remain anonymous. “Why are we not talking about bank branches, but their central facilities where thousands of middle and senior managers will work, with what that means for their needs for restaurants, cafes, shops, gyms, leisure etc. Some of them will also look for their residence somewhere nearby, so let’s not be so surprised by the housing projects that are being developed in the wider area”.
Andreas Kourkoulas: “Returning the residence to the center is a condition”
“The phenomenon of cities is like quicksand”, comments o architect and professor emeritus of NTUA Andreas Kourkoulas. “While the spatial-material structure remains almost unchanged (road network – buildings), social changes and pressures charge their everyday life in an unpredictable way many times. The structure of the space in the center of Athens remains almost unchanged, as a result of a battle between the neoclassical plan of the new capital and the resistance from below to its implementation. The main characteristic of the center of Athens was its sociability and vitality”. For the well-known architect, the first major social change in recent years has to do with the environmental pollution of the 1980s and the mass abandonment of housing for the suburbs. This gap came to be filled by the large migration flows.
The second big recent change has to do with the inclusion of Athens on the international tourist map. This led to a frenzied race to build hotels and an unprecedented boom in tourism in the wider Acropolis area. “This unexpected development created fears of monoculture in a multifunctional and lively center. This asymmetric development brought to the surface phenomena of social “desertion” in other parts of the center and axes, such as Stadiou, Patision, Akadimia, 3rd of September, etc. This phenomenon was contributed by both the gradual retreat of the residence and the large inward-looking building complexes such as banks, etc., which do not converse with the public space. The swelling of the tourist section in the center of the city, around the Acropolis, must be balanced with incentives to restore housing. This in turn means areas with a local character and functions that meet the needs of permanent residents. Already the first signs of recovery in areas such as Kypseli create some moderate optimism. The new subway line and the expansion plan of the Archaeological Museum seem to contribute positively to the balancing of the center. Any design intervention in the public space of the center must set as a condition the restoration of the residence but also the equal distribution of the basic – functional – cultural nodes for a sustainable and resilient city”.
