The adventure of the Double Redevelopment from 2006 to today – Closer to the Panathinaikos stadium

The end of a long processwhich started 18 years ago, marks the issuance of the building permit for his new stadium Panathinaikou in Botanikos and the start of the first construction works. An episodic course, which marked by political and scientific conflicts for the design of the double redevelopment, legal disputes, multi-year abandonment of the project due to the financial crisis and its restart in 2019.

According to the building permit (revision of the original 2009 permit), the stadium will reach a height of six stories (29.7 meters) and a depth of three basements (325 parking spaces), occupying a total of 34,380 square meters. As provided by the relevant legislationdue to the size of the project, the permit was not issued by the urban planning department of the Municipality of Athens, but directly by the Ministry of the Environment (Directorate of Architecture, Building Regulations and Licensing – DAOKA).

As required, the issuance of the building permit and the start of work were preceded by a series of prerequisite actions: in addition to obtaining the necessary approvals and renewing the environmental conditions of the project, various arbitrary structures existing on the municipal plot (purchased approx. a decade ago with Green Fund resources). At the same time the demolition permit for the Alexandra Avenue stadium was issuedwhich will be “activated” as soon as the operating license for the stadium is issued to Botanikos and the amateur facilities are completed. “It was a commitment that we undertook and implement unwaveringly towards the fans of Panathinaikos, but also the residents of the wider area who see Botanikos being upgraded”, commented the mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas.

It will reach a height of six floors and a depth of three basements, with the first works on the site already started.

The case began in 2006when the (then) Ministry of the Interior instituted (n. 3481) the double redevelopment, a plan to “transfer” the Panathinaikos stadium to Votanikos, with the demolition of the Avenue to create a 16-acre public space. The regulation “tied” the fate of the stadium to the construction of a shopping center by the company “Babis Vovos” – this option turned into a “tombstone” for the project, which was deemed unconstitutional by the Council of State in 2009 (decision no. 3059). .

Despite the obscenities that are written even today about “cormorants”, decisive role in the decision of the CoE it was not the environmental protection of the Botanical Gardens that played a role, but the addition of other uses (commercial, etc.) with privileged urban planning conditions. The project “froze”, the commercial Vovos that had already started to be built remained unfinished (the building consists of four basements and 50,000 m2 of superstructure, while 2/3 of this has been constructed in terms of the load-bearing body).

The Ministry of Environment returned the 2013 with a new presidential decree for the double reconstruction (Government Gazette 161/AAP), but the momentum had been lost. In the meantime the “Vovos” company went bankrupt and the unfinished shopping center passed to the creditor banks Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank. The two banks later created a special purpose company to also undertake the development of the property.

The project was restarted in 2019, under the previous leadership of the municipality, with the signing of agreements between the municipality, PAE Panathinaikos, Erasitechnis and AEP Elaionas (the company founded by the two banks). Based on these agreements, the Municipality of Athens assumed almost the entire cost of the project (except for the Erasitechnis stadium, which will be paid by the two banks) through the state budget (it received 115 million from the PDE), while the creation of the infrastructure is financed with an additional 140 million euros from the Recovery Fund.