Ellinikon: Deluge of amendments for hotels, height of buildings and Double Regeneration

A deluge of amendments have been submitted in the last two days to the bill of the Ministry of Development and Investment for the adaptation of the Greek legislation to the Directive for the protection of the consumers. In particular, the amendments bring changes that facilitate the operation of large hotel accommodations that do not have environmental conditions, give additional height of six meters to the 200-meter tall buildings at the Metropolitan Pole of Ellinikon – Agios Kosmas, remove the disinvestment for PPC, extend permits for the stadium of Alexandras Avenue and give a 12-year extension for the exploitation of public real estate.

According to the promoted regulations, without the approval of environmental conditions, the hotel accommodation will be able to operate for the coming months. More specifically, “main hotel accommodation” is given the opportunity to maintain the Special Operation Label, even if no decision has been issued approving environmental conditions (A.E.P.O.), as long as within four months of the enactment of the law ( ie by the end of September) they submit a request for its issuance. In addition, a deadline of two years is set for the submission of A.E.P.O. to the competent service, which issues the Special Operation Permit.

Also, for those “main hotel accommodations” that had a Special Operation Permit which was revoked due to lack of A.E.P.O., this will be re-granted provided that within four months a request for approval of environmental conditions has been submitted. The category “main hotel accommodation” includes large tourist infrastructure such as hotels, organized tourist camps (camping sites), youth hostels, complex tourist accommodation, co-owned hotels (condo hotels), hotel tourist accommodation within traditional buildings, etc ..

An additional six meters to the skyscrapers in Ellinikon

A regulation is also proposed that determines the constructions that are allowed above the maximum height of the tall buildings (up to an additional six meters), as well as the constructions that are allowed without a height limit. In particular, it is envisaged that, within the additional six meters, planted roofs, structures and installations necessary for the maintenance, cleaning and safety of tall buildings, such as machines for cleaning facades, air traffic lights, sound curtains, architectural curtains will be allowed, to cover all these constructions, and constructions that include the end of the stair lifts, the elevator shafts and the lift engine rooms etc.

At the same time, other modifications are introduced for the Metropolitan Pole of Ellinikon-Agios Kosmas. They stipulate that the pre-approvals of building permits, where required, will last for three years, while a special procedure is set for their issuance. Specifically, it is provided that all the supporting documents will be checked once by the Ellenikon Bureau within a period of ten days, after which the pre-approval will be granted or, if it passes without action, the granting of pre-approval will be presumed. Finally, it is stipulated that a pre-approval review is required only when the urban dimensions, such as construction, coverage, volume or height, change significantly by more than 5% compared to the diagrams submitted in the pre-approval framework.

Double Regeneration

In addition, the bill on climate law has included a regulation that extends the validity of the demolition permit for the Panathinaikos Stadium on Alexandras Avenue. According to the law on the Double Regeneration, the demolition permit, as an exception to any other provision, was valid until the completion of the works carried out at the new football stadium in the area of ​​Votanikos, in accordance with the relevant building permit and in any case no more than ten years. With the promoted regulation, the time period of the demolition permit is extended to 20 years. Furthermore, the possibility of exemption for 10 years from the demolition that had been given for the arbitrary facilities of Alexandras Avenue is extended to 20 years, as well as the possibility of legal operation of the existing football stadium.

12-year extension of public real estate operation

With an amendment to the bill of the Ministry of Development, any kind of business exploitation contract, or franchise or concession of know-how and generally any kind of concession contract for the exploitation, utilization and operation of public real estate, NPDD (Legal Entities of Public Law), and the wider public sector is extended for 12 years, with the exception of those owned by the Hellenic Public Properties Company (HPPC).

Especially for extension of real estate leases, which house tourism businesses (hotels), according to the explanatory memorandum, a necessary measure in order to stimulate the economic dynamics of hotel businesses was deemed.

Removal of PPC divestment

The legal framework governing the merger by absorption of subsidiaries by the parent company is being clarified. In particular, arrangements are provided for dealing with issues of accounting, tax, administrative and notarial nature of the PPC corporate transformation process, in order to make it possible without delay and to facilitate its completion, thus achieving a rapid and smooth return to the previous situation, or in the case of PPC, the removal of the disinvestment from the lignite units and the merger of “Lignite Megalopolis Monoprosopi SA” and “Lignite Melite Monoprosopi SA”.

The problem had arisen because law 4533/18, which had made possible the initial separation of the two lignite branches of PPC, had not incorporated regulations in the case of absorption of a company by a public limited company. Their absence makes it difficult and burdens with long delays the completion of the corporate transformation of the company as it does not allow the immediate withdrawal of the divestment and the implementation of the commitments from 1 September 2021 to the European Commission.