Lamda: The next milestones for the Ellinikon project

The staff of Lamda Development spoke about the progress of the projects in Ellinikon based on the schedule and sales of houses in the residential neighbourhoods of the project at rates above initial expectations at the analysts’ teleconference on the occasion of the publication of the company’s nine-month results, which “is running” the major renovation at the former airport.

The following milestones for the project, the first chronologically, have to do with the development of the “Riviera Tower”, the skyscraper landmark for the Residential Tower, where the ground floor slab will be visible to all from Poseidon Avenue by the end of 2023.

For 2024, the following milestones are the development of the new residential neighbourhoods, with the launch of around 200 homes from the end of 2023, which will gradually increase over the next year.

In a question about the financing of the project, according to Lamda ‘s financial staff – that is, Messrs. Apostolos Zafolias, Haris Goritsas, and Dimitris Charalambopoulos – the company “is not going to receive any new loan financing for the construction projects in 2024, the existing funds are sufficient given that the sales of the houses are also above the initial expectations.”

Indicatively, in the summer, the promotion to the buying public of 33 apartments in the Park Rise residential project, signed by the famous architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and involving a 50-metre-high building, began. By November, customer advances have already been deposited for 21 apartments, totalling approximately 3 million euros, with the signing of the notarial deeds to complete the purchase and sale expected to begin in the first quarter of 2024 (where 20% of the total price of each will be collected, including any advance payment).

Accordingly, in the very expensive residential neighbourhood with 27 plots intended for luxury villas on the sea, in the licensing part, building permits have been issued for three plots, while the process of issuing a building permit is underway for an additional ten plots. Further, almost all required demolitions have been completed.

When asked whether, due to the increase in prices and inflationary pressures, there has recently been a slowdown in consumer spending in the group’s shopping centres (The Mall Athens, Golden Hall, Mediterranean Cosmos, Designer Outlet Athens), Lamda staff stated that “the general picture is that our malls continue to grow, there have been rent adjustments with the shopkeepers, while we have not seen any negative impact or slowdown in sales in the malls – on the contrary – we have positive performance.

Traditionally, for the last quarter of the year, October is more moderate in terms of performance. Still, the November-December period is a very “strong” month in the run-up to Christmas.

Lamda’s financial staff reported that the group’s total portfolio value (GAV) had reached the end of the nine months “at record levels” of €3.2bn with the Ellinikon project accounting for €2bn increased by 45m euro compared to the end of 2022 due to the revaluation of the value of investment properties with a positive impact of 22 million euros and an increase in capital expenditure (CAPEX) of 23 million euros after deducting the cost of properties sold.