Tenders for developing former Olympic venues accelerate
Olympic Properties SA, the company set up to develop the several Olympic installations around Athens – with the exception of the main Olympic complex and the Peace and Friendship indoor arena in Neo Faliron – is witnessing considerable activity this period as several tenders for the long-term leasing of venues built for the Athens 2004 Games are now in the final straight. The company’s management says it is particularly satisfied with the private sector’s response to date in the tenders it has called, although the presence of foreign companies in them has been limited. The first tender to be completed concerned the Badminton venue at Goudi, eastern Athens (with courts of 8,200 square meters in a plot of 25,000 sq.m.). A joint bid by Michail Adam, Georgios Giorgas and Dimitris Kontogiannis secured the operation of the installation, as will be officially announced early next week. Also next week the contractor will be chosen for the sports hall at Galatsi, northeastern Athens, from the two consortiums bidding for it: Hellenic Technodomiki TEV with Aktor against Acropol Haragionis-Sonae Sierra. So far the tenders which have attracted the biggest interest from the private sector are those for the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) on Kifissias Avenue and for the Aghios Cosmas marina. As many as ten companies/consortiums bid for the former, with Olympic Properties shortlisting seven of them, led by Antenna TV, J&P Avax, Lamda Development, SGB, Hellenic Technodomiki TEV, Sierra-Haragionis and GEK. The whole of the IBC is conceded, with its total built surface covering 53,835 square meters and with underground facilities that could turn into 1,700 parking spaces. Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis recently told Parliament that the binding offer process is complete with the opening of the offers remaining for the selection of the contractor, which is expected to happen within the next fortnight. In the case of the IBC there may actually be more than one contractor. For its part Olympic Properties says it is satisfied with the number and the quality of the firms participating in the tender for such a «difficult» installation due to its big surface and its unclear character. Thirteen bids The Aghios Cosmas installation is conceded for 35 to 40 years and has also satisfied the expectations of Olympic Properties, since in the first stage of the tender it attracted no fewer than 13 consortiums, justifying the reports suggesting this is one of the most coveted items of the Olympic portfolio due to the intense business interest it generates. Out of all 13 companies/consortiums only five were shortlisted. They were the S.Cape consortium (including J&P Avax, GEK, VIOTER and Motodynamics), Intrakat, Sirios, Waterfront and a consortium by Emporiki Real Estate, Prometheus Gas, Athena and Semora Investments. The aim of Olympic Properties is to accelerate the procedure so that by early summer the contractor will have been chosen. The Canoe-Kayak installations at Hellenikon have mainly attracted the interest of entertainment and restaurant companies. From the five companies/consortiums to have participated in the first phase of the tender, the four were shortlisted. They are Village Roadshow Operations Hellas, the consortium of Intradevelopment with Intrakat and Thrylos SA, the consortium of Audiovisual with Hellenic Entertainment Parks and Dimitris Kontogiannis, and the consortium of GEK, J&P Avax, VIOTER and Aqualand Corfu Waterpark. The tender was, however, marked by the eventual lack of any big names from abroad. Finally, last Monday the procedure of expression of interest was completed for the venues of Beach Volleyball at the Olympic Center at Faliron, with the participation of five companies/consortiums. They are Village Roadshow Operations Hellas, the union of Everest and ATESE, the union of GEK, J&P Avax and Vioter, and the French groups Altarea and SEPI SA.
