#hellenikon

UK studio Foster + Partners has unveiled a greenery-covered skyscraper near Athens named Marina Tower, which is set to become the tallest building in Greece.

Planned as the centrepiece of the Agios Kosmas Marina development on the site of Athens' former international airport, the 200-metre-tall building will become the tallest building in the country.

When complete, the Foster + Partners-designed skyscraper will be almost twice as tall as the current record holder – the 103-metre-high Athens Tower 1 designed by Ioannis Vikelas.

Marina Tower will be covered with greenery, which the studio claims will also make it "the first green high-rise building" in the country.

It will contain 200 apartments spread over 45 floors. They will all be dual-aspect to ensure unobstructed views of the coastline and natural light and ventilation.

Athens Excavators at the old Hellenikon International Airport.

Bulldozers entered the premises of the old Athens airport and started to demolish the buildings for the sake of ambitious Helliniko Project. All hurdlers have been removed but one crucial issue remains unsolved: the dozens of strays that have been living in the abandoned premises for years. They cannot be moved out because the entrance to rescuers and volunteers is simply forbidden! The cannot also do not have food or water because access is denied.

Despite the ongoing efforts of animal welfare volunteers who have been struggling for months to remove the stray animals living on the site of the former Hellenic airport, the thriller of the animal rescue continues.

The animals, cats in the majority, remain on the premises of Helliniko. While the demolition of buildings has begun, about forty adult cats and about 15 babies kittens remain trapped inside practically without food and water and exposed to the horrifying noise of the machines.

Volunteers have been denied access to offer food and water and to remove the remaining animals since June 30.

On July 3, a day before the demolition was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, the animal welfare association “Adespotologio” submitted a request to the Chief of the Athens Prosecutor’s Office.

They requested the Prosecutor to allow the entry of volunteers in a smooth and safe way, to continue collecting animals.

An Olympic Airways Museum will be built inside the site of the former Athens airport at Hellinikon, housed inside the airline hangar, as part of an 8 billion euro development project.

Bulldozers have already started demolishing the airport buildings and structures inside the 2,000,000 sq.m. lot that used to be the capital’s seaside airport. The emblematic investment project will include a high-rise casino, a luxury resort, a hotel, luxury apartments, a shopping mall, sports courts, and other facilities.

The Olympic Airways hangar was saved from demolition thanks to the efforts of the Olympic Airways Aviation Employees Cultural Center, as it was named a cultural heritage monument by the Ministry of Culture.

The building will be housing 80 years of civil aviation history and the history of the emblematic airline that was owned by Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis.

After months of shutdown, Athens International Airport is gearing up to "welcome the world" once again as Greece moves ahead with plans to gradually lift coronavirus restrictions in a bid to revive its key tourism industry. But while authorities hope the phased return of international travel from June 15 will eventually bring the arrival halls of the Eleftherios Venizelos hub roaring back to life, a few kilometers to the west, another airport will remain eerily quiet -- as it has for much of the last 20 years. Located on the southern Athenian coast on a site roughly three times the size of Monaco, Hellenikon -- which translates to "the Greek" -- was for decades the only international airport in Athens. The former airport complex was originally built in the late 1930s at a time when Greek aviation was still in a nascent stage. During the World War II occupation of Greece by Axis powers, the site was used by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe and became a target of Allied air raids. Major gateway Following the end of the war, Hellenikon hosted Greek, US and British forces but by the 1950s it had become Athens's main hub for commercial air travel. Significant reconstruction work followed, including expanded runways and a new control tower and terminal halls. With Greece's tourism industry rapidly expanding, Hellenikon served as the gateway for millions of people arriving from all corners of the globe to explore the country's archaeological marvels and sun-baked beaches. Time took its toll, however, and on March 30, 2001 -- after years of debates and planning -- Hellenikon shut its doors indefinitely to make way for a larger, more modern facility.

A “mammoth” bank loan is still due before the Hellinikon investment project can proceed with works after it overcomes the last bureaucratic hurdles and all decisions by ministries and other public bodies give the green light.

The Hellenic Development consortium consists of Lamda Development, China’s Fosun and Abu Dhabi’s Eagle Hills. The company is close to finalize a credit agreement with Greek and foreign banks, conservative daily kathimerini reported on Tuesday.

At the same time, the share capital increase is being evaluated, the exact amount, the time of implementation and the way of covering which have not been finalized yet.

The announcements are forecast to be expected by the end of the month and will likely include an extraordinary general meeting to approve both the bond loan (credit line) and the equity increase under consideration.

An Olympic Airlines 747, once the proud flagship jet of an airline enjoyed by the likes of Hollywood actors, high-profile heads of state, and even Jackie Kennedy, glistens in the sun while sitting idle just South of Athens.

Hellenikon International Airport is abandoned and derelict, a living example of ‘when time stood still’. For six decades, the airport served as the Greek capital’s main hub for commercial airliners. It was the Greek home of the ‘golden age’ of air travel, handling around 12 million passengers per year.

The airport had two terminals: the West Terminal for Olympic Airways, and the East Terminal for all other carriers.

But following the opening of the current Athens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH) in 2001, Hellinkon was neglected and is now caught up in years worth of bureaucracy and debates surrounding what the airport site should be used for. Not only are there no concrete plans for the future of the site, but in addition to this, there isn’t any company, firm, nor individual person managing the former hub airport itself — hence its dire, sad state.

Now, almost 20 years since the airports’ closure, the entire site is off-limits to the public for fears of airport buildings, or even aircraft parts collapsing.

There is an area in Athens that is three times the size of Monaco, twice the size of New York’s Central Park and is yet to be Europe’s biggest urban regeneration project. Meet Hellinikon Project, an € 8 billion investment that would create 75.000 jobs.

Back in 2001, the former Athens International airport of Ellinikon was relocated to Spata vacating an area of 6.200.000 sqm. During the 2004 Olympic Games, the area served as a sports venue and was later used as a refugee camp hosting over 3000 refugees, while 69 public and private entities and facilities were situated there.

In 2011 the company “Hellinikon SA” was created for the management and administration of the area currently called Hellinikon-Agios Kosmas Metroplitan hub. The International Tender procedure for Hellinikon commenced in 2011 and the contract for the transfer of the shares of “Hellinikon S.A.” to the only bidder, Lamda Development, a consortium consisting of Greek, Emirati and Chinese investors, was signed in 2014 while an Amendment Agreement was signed in 2016.