Commercial real estate in Greece is coming back to life.

In a period of recovering demand for commercial space, since the beginning of 2016, the real estate market in Greece is experiencing a new phase of growth. This is confirmed by the planned investment of at least 550 million euros in commercial real estate of various types. Almost no new buildings have been constructed in the last 10 years, while most of them have already been reserved in advance by tenants.

However, the recovery in demand for retail space since the beginning of 2016 has accelerated the expansion and increase in the number of shopping centers, as well as revived frozen investment plans. The acceleration of business activity has also started to become evident in the office space market. Several new leases have been made in the last 12 months and companies are also showing interest in expanding their workspaces. Hotels are of particular interest. According to real estate professionals, the resumption of construction of new shopping centers, offices, logistics and hotel facilities is due to the recovery of rental demand and the interest of investment funds and real estate development companies in new quality facilities that meet modern standards.

The lack of new projects in recent years has led to a significant shortage of real estate, so some groups prefer to improve their existing properties. In developing shopping areas, where there is the most activity, it is more profitable to focus on renovation or expansion of existing shopping centers, where the investment risk is lower. These activities improve existing shopping centers, attract new visitors and require less capital investment. However, the market will soon see the emergence of entirely new retail space, although in some cases development companies will try to include office and hotel space in projects as well, in order to reduce risk. This is one of the lessons of the financial crisis in Greece, and part of the owners' efforts to attract as many tenants as possible (through preliminary agreements) already in the construction phase.

The first addition to Greek shopping centers will be the reopening of an existing mall that has been closed for several years. Pantheon Plaza shopping center in Larissa, Central Greece, plans to open its doors at the end of October under the name Fashion City Outlet and will be the region's new discount and entertainment destination.

The expansion of the Smart Park shopping center in Spata, East Attica, is also underway. This includes the creation of 15,500 square meters of new stores, which will increase the total leasable area of the shopping center to 53,000 square meters. The cost of the expansion of the shopping park will exceed 20 million euros, which is the first major intervention at the site since 2011, when it became operational.

By the end of the year, the construction of a new shopping center in the capital is scheduled to start. The project in question is Academy Gardens in Kolonos, near Plato's Academy in the central district of Athens, on the site where the Mouzakis textile factory used to be located. It is an investment estimated at about 300 million euros, of which about 180 million are construction costs and the rest includes the cost of buying the land 11 years ago (37 million), taxes, social security contributions and the cost of conducting research. The investment is being realized by a special purpose company Artume, a subsidiary of the American investment group BlackRock.

The office space market is also seeing significant activity after a number of years of near indifference. In fact, some new projects are also incorporating other uses of space in an attempt to make offices more attractive to businesses and their employees. The biggest plan so far is the Cambas project, a €220 million investment by REDS, a subsidiary of the Ellaktor Group. The original idea was to develop a new shopping center, but now the plan is to create 30,000-40,000 square meters of office space, with the remaining 80,000 square meters the developers plan to use for cinemas, stores, cafes, restaurants and possibly a hotel. The issuance of a license to build on the site of the former Cambas estate in Kantza, eastern Attica, is expected in 2020, following the development and approval of a land use decree.

The expansion of the Golden Hall shopping complex will be completed by the end of 2019, through the renovation of the former International Information Center for the Athens Olympics, with an investment of 25 million euros. Also under construction is a 30,000 square meter office building on the former Papastratos tobacco factory in Piraeus.