LAMDA Development opens The Ellinikon sports park

The new sports park, delivered by LAMDA Development, has already opened its doors to families, children, athletes and visitors, combining professional and amateur sports with everyday exercise, recreation and green spaces.

Of the park’s total 287,000 sq m, more than 115,000 sq m comprise open green spaces, while the first phase includes an extensive network of sports and supporting facilities.

Specifically, the Sports Park features a 1,070-seat outdoor athletics stadium and a throwing field, four 11-a-side football pitches—two with artificial turf and two with hybrid turf—two basketball courts and two tennis courts.

The facilities also include areas for recreational exercise, pedestrian walkways and cycle paths, four food and beverage outlets, 1,350 parking spaces, children’s recreational areas and event spaces, as well as an athletes’ accommodation building comprising 124 rooms.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis highlighted the importance of the new sports park for citizens’ everyday lives and for Greek sport, describing the Sports Park as “an important lung for a better quality of everyday life,” as well as “a springboard for more victories on the track and on the playing fields.”

As he noted, the new facility is not intended solely for residents of the southern suburbs, but for Attica as a whole, as well as for amateur and professional athletes and Paralympians.

The Prime Minister described the Sports Park as another piece of the wider Ellinikon redevelopment, which he characterized as the largest redevelopment project currently underway in Europe.

Odysseas Athanasiou: “The true measure of this place will be the moments”

Odysseas Athanasiou, Chief Executive Officer of LAMDA Development, emphasized the open and accessible character of the Sports Park. As he noted, the site had effectively been inaugurated even before today’s official ceremony—“by the first child who ran here a few weeks ago, by the first ball that hit the ground, by the first athlete who arrived early in the morning for training.”

“If there is one word that characterizes this park, it is coexistence,” he said, describing the coexistence of elite sport with everyday exercise, sports clubs with families, and children with older generations.

Mr. Athanasiou also referred to earlier criticism that the development of Ellinikon could result in the creation of a closed community, noting that the answer can now be found in the area itself. “Wherever you live, Ellinikon will have a place in your life. Not as a slogan, but as an everyday reality,” he said.

He also referred to Spiros Latsis, the next generation, Alex Latsis, and the LAMDA Development team involved in implementing the project. He paid particular tribute to the workers at the construction sites and to the people who are present on the ground every day.

For Mr. Athanasiou, Ellinikon is inextricably linked to the past 15 years of his life—a period marked by plans, expectations, obstacles, criticism and achievements. “Today, I do not want to dwell on how difficult it was. I want to focus on why it was worth it,” he said.

The 2027 milestones

The timetable for the next phases of the Ellinikon development is of particular interest, with 2027 expected to be a milestone year for the redevelopment.

Odysseas Athanasiou recalled that on 25 June 2021, Ellinikon came under the ownership of LAMDA Development, and noted that, less than six years later, a succession of project handovers is set to begin, which is expected to significantly transform the appearance of the area.

Early 2027: An additional 160 hectares of parkland and open spaces are scheduled to be delivered, together with the Ellinikon Lake. At the same time, the first residential handovers are expected to begin.

April 2027: The upgraded marina at Agios Kosmas is scheduled to commence operations.

By Easter 2027: Construction of Riviera Galleria, the first major retail destination at Ellinikon, is expected to be completed.

End of summer 2027: Riviera Galleria is scheduled to open to the public. According to Mr. Athanasiou, by that time the entire coastal zone of Ellinikon will have acquired a markedly different appearance.

During 2027: Completion and commencement of operations of Riviera Tower, the country’s first skyscraper, is also scheduled.