Theodoros Charagionis: From the confectionery of Piraeus to king of shopping centers

A true pioneer in the domestic real estate market, visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, world-class car collector and founder of the Hellenic Automobile Museum, Theodoros Haragionis passed away at the age of 75 after a battle with cancer.

Essentially, Theodoros Charagionis, a graduate of the National Technical University of Athens in the Department of Civil Engineering with further training at Harvard and Stanford, was the first to implement real estate development with long-term exploitation in the Greek market, while he was also one of the first to see the prospects of shopping centers, as well as the power of luxury brands in the Greek market.

It is characteristic that in 1988 the pioneering developer created the “Melathron” shopping center in a protected area in Kolonaki, which was entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s smallest mall.

To give an idea of the size of the mall, which was awarded internationally by the ICSC organization for the best use of land (as the plot is only 230 m2), the Zara store in Golden Hall is 3,200 m2. m. while the entire “Melathron” is 1,379 sq.m.!

Although business luck was not always on his side, Theodoros Charagionis from Piraeus, who in his younger days had won numerous awards in athletics and rowing, struggled to the end to succeed. After all, he always liked risks, from car racing to his various business activities. “If you don’t risk, you don’t succeed,” he used to say.

The total reversal

Born, on his mother’s side, of the Paleokrassas and Empirikou families, originally from Andros, Theodoros Charagionis, as soon as he obtained his diploma in civil engineering, took over the technical company of his father Nikiforos, who had become known from the famous Acropole confectionery in Piraeus.

A low-key person, Theodoros, but with a lot of stubbornness to succeed, “saw” beyond the technical projects and began to be active in real estate development, which quickly became the main area of activity of the family group.

In 1976, Mr. Charagionis was the first in Greece to implement real estate development with long-term exploitation, creating in the center of Piraeus, a multi-storey store which was leased for 20 years to “Afoi Lambropouloi”.

In 1978, he undertook the implementation of the first shopping center in Greece under the name “Hermeion”, with the aim of unifying the commerce of Hadrianou Street with that of Pandrossou-Hefaistou streets in Plaka, at the same time linking this development with the first renovations of preserved buildings in the country .

In 1988, he created the “Melathron” in Kolonaki, while Mr. Charagionis’ big bet came in 1999 when he signed an agreement with the Portuguese multinational group Sonae Sierra for the development of large shopping centers in Greece, creating Sierra Charagionis.

Despite all this, the two projects planned by the consortium, one in Galatsi and one in Piraeus, did not progress due to reactions and appeals from residents and local merchants.

Among the most important projects of Acropole Haragionis in the leisure and commercial sector, were the Millennium in Pagrati, the Aigli in Kifissia, the Galleria Korai in the center of Athens, the Anesis complex in Ampelokipi, while together with Sonae Sierra they participated together with Lamda Development in the creation of the Mediterranean Cosmos shopping center in Thessaloniki.

In 2010, the Portuguese group of Sonae Sierra and Acropole Charagionis decided to transfer their 39.9% stake in Mediterranean Cosmos to Lamda Development, which thus acquired full ownership control of the property, in exchange for amounting to 38 million euros.

In the same year and after the first memorandum had been signed, the Athens Capitol shopping center was inaugurated, an investment of 45 million euros, on 3rd of September, Ioulianou and Patision streets.

Hosting, among other things, the Hellenic Automobile Museum with the personal collection of Theodoros Haragionis, the Athens Capitol faced in the years that followed a series of bankruptcies by its main tenants, such as Sprider, the Marinopoulos supermarket chain (the store in question reopened under the label of Sklavenitis when the latter acquired the bankrupt Marinopoulos), of Costa Coffee, and was also forced to prosecute some defaulters. As a result, revenues dried up.

After various plans, such as the rebranding of Athens Capitol into a discount center,  the property was saved by renting it to the American company Sitel, which is active in the field of providing services, products and customer experience solutions (Customer Experience, call & contact centers) in the form of outsourcing for large international groups.

Gucci and the financial crisis

In addition to his advanced ideas in real estate, he also understood the prospects of retail trade. He was the one who brought Gucci to Greece 40 years ago, when Greece was just beginning to acquire… European characteristics.

Because of the personal acquaintance of the young civil engineer and businessman with the Gucci family, along with the increase in income of Greeks, the management of the Italian house, founded in 1897 by Guccio Gucci, was convinced and gave him the Greek representation through a franchise.

His first store opened in Kolonaki in the “Melathron” shopping center (Tsakalov 5) and soon became a point of reference for all lovers of fashion and luxury.

The great success of Gucci in Greece led to the strategic decision to open another store in Kifissia. The second was opened in 2001 in the “Aigli” shopping center (Kolokotroni 8).

The Kolonaki store was moved in April 2003 from number 5 Tsakalov Street to 27, in a larger neoclassical three-story building, to serve the increased demand for luxury goods.

However, during the ten-year financial crisis, the Haragioni group faced serious difficulties, as a result of which the management of the Gucci brand fell to the parent company, which today manages the stores and the Gucci brand in Greece with two stores in Mykonos and one in Syntagma, where the point of Tsakalov Street was moved to Kolonaki.

Car enthusiast

A passionate lover of motoring culture, Theodoros Charagionis belonged to the elite of the most important car collectors worldwide.

Whenever he found some free time, he also took part in the Greek car races, going under the monicker “Talbot”. At the beginning of the millennium he also took part in the historic car races that preceded the 24 hours of Le Mans, with a blue Lotus Elite.

The culmination of his love for automobiles was the establishment of the Hellenic Automobile Museum, in the center of Athens, in the “Athenian Capitol” complex.

His collection includes real gems such as Paul Newman’s Mercedes 300 SL with doors that open upwards – hence the name Gullwing. This car was found in Jersey.

Another well-known car is the 1959 Chrysler Imperial that belonged to Robert Plant, a member of rock band Led Zeppelin, while a special place in his collection is the 1953 Lancia Aurelia, the personal car of Lorenzo Vandini, a famous Formula 1 driver. who in 1958 had won the Acropolis Rally.

Also standing out are the 1979 Cadillac Seville Gucci, with a lounge specially designed by the House of Gucci, the Aston Martin Lagoda, whose first owner was the Duke of Westminster, the ’57 Bugatti, a car once owned by Nikolaos Empirikos, its first owner internationally famous Embiricos Bentley, a Rolls-Royce formerly owned by Alexandros Andreadis, second husband of Christina Onassis, as well as the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the well-known “stringla” with driven by the late Johnny Pesmazoglou won many Greek championships and many more.

The oldest exhibit in the Hellenic Automobile Museum is an 1895 fire enginep of Hungarian origin and the newest is a 1980 Ferrari 308 GTS.