A Look into Greece’s Newest Development Project
In Athens, the Ellinikon project has given promised luxury residences, international investment, and a massive public park that would expand the city’s green space. However, the project is guided towards international investors, tourists, and Greece’s elite, while clashing with the city’s skyline and mostly ignoring the needs of ordinary Athenians. Given Greece’s economic crisis and growing inequality, can the Ellinikon project live up to the hype?
A new skyline will change Athens’ image, but whose lives will it improve? On the Athenian Riviera, Ellinikon promises luxury residences, international investment and a massive public park. Whether those promises can translate into meaningful improvements for ordinary Athenians is less clear. Its plan projects a 200-metre residential tower with homes estimated to average roughly €3.6 million per home, several luxury residential complexes, a €1.5 billion casino resort, a marina and a major public park intended to help Athens adapt to increasingly severe summer heat.
The face of the project is the 200-metre Riviera Tower, scheduled for completion by the end of the year. Before construction began, 60% of its apartments had reportedly been reserved, with foreign buyers accounting for one quarter of those reservations. For buyers from outside the European Union, these properties offer another attraction: potential eligibility for Greece’s Golden Visa programme. In Attica, a qualifying property purchase worth at least €800,000 can provide an investor and eligible family members with a renewable Greek residence permit. The residence permit adds a powerful incentive for international buyers and reinforces Ellinikon’s orientation towards a wealthy global market rather than the housing needs of ordinary Athenians.
This all begs the question, who is being encouraged to build a future in Athens, and who is being left behind? There is nothing inherently wrong with a development project attracting wealthy residents and tourists. Yet, when foreign buyers are offered a route to residency, what comparable support is available to Greeks struggling to afford an independent home? Attracting capital supports economic growth, but purchasing a luxury apartment does not necessarily lead to investment in local businesses or opportunities for existing residents. The case for these incentives therefore depends on demonstrating how their benefits will reach the wider population.
Similar questions apply to Ellinikon’s urban design; how will its towers and luxury complexes connect with Athens’ existing neighbourhoods and public identity? Buildings in Athens are generally limited to around 32 meters to protect views of the Acropolis, yet Ellinikon was granted an exception allowing the tower to reach 200 meters. Ellinikon’s claim to inclusion ultimately depends on whether public policy connects private investment to tangible improvements in housing, transport, and public space for the people already living in Athens.
This isn’t to say it’s all bad. In the decades following the Second World War, Athens underwent an intense building boom. Rapid urbanisation and an urgent need for housing filled the city with its now-iconic monochrome concrete apartment blocks, often constructed with little coordinated urban planning. While this expansion housed a growing population, it left limited room for parks, trees, and other public green spaces, a particularly serious deficiency in a Mediterranean city exposed to ever-increasing heat. Trees are estimated to cover just 11% of Athens, one of the lowest proportions among European capitals. Ellinikon’s proposed park promises to address that deficiency: developers claim that it will increase green space across the Athenian metropolitan area by 44%. It’s important now to see how accessible will it be to residents traveling from the city’s central, northern, or eastern neighbourhoods having to take long trips on transport or congestion filled drives
Yet, public perception shows that instead of excitement surrounding the project, Athenians are rather concerned about rising property prices, unequal distributions of benefits, and public access. This project is to increase the Greek GDP by 2.4%, but economic growth is not judged by a headline figure alone. What use is a wealthier city if that said wealth remains concentrated in a coastal enclave while the social divide across Athens widens?
Ellinikon’s success should be judged by how far its benefits extend across Athens. Affordable access to its public spaces and clear commitments to wider public benefits would give its promise substance. Without those commitments, the development risks creating a desirable coastal address while leaving the city’s existing inequalities largely intact, and for that, I am not particularly optimistic.
Hi guys, my name is Andreas. I was born in Athens, Greece but had the pleasure of growing up all over the world. I am a 3rd year BESS student and enjoy learning about current events and economic policy. I'm a big fan of sports, specifically snowboarding and football, music, and watching movies.