Lampsa Hellenic Hotels SA has just taken out a 30-year lease on a nice story building that once housed the historic Kings Palace in Athens. According to the news from Lampsa, the group is expected to open its doors as a new upscale hotel within the next two years.
Syntagma Square – CC 4.0
Located on Kriezotou and Panepistimiou streets, very near Syntagma Square, the building is about to undergo a €20 million euro restoration to transform the edifice into a stunning new five-star accommodation of 195 rooms and suites. Sources say the new Lampsa hotel will operate under either the Marriott, HyaTT; OR Accor brand names the company currently cooperates with. The location is ideal, being just steps away from the Greek Parliament, the Botanical Gardens and historic wonders like Aristotle’s Lyceum, not to mention shops and restaurants etc.
Lampsa currently owns the Hotel Grande Bretagne and King George, both located in the heart of Athens on Syntagma Square. The new hotel project is a long term project that comes at an opportune time just as Athens sees a resurgence in popularity. Lampsa is also expected next year to go ahead with investments of some 15-17 million euros for the refurbishment of the Hotel Grande Bretagne and the King George hotels. Plans include the addition of 20-30 rooms to the Hotel Grande Bretagne and another 10 rooms to the King George.
In a recent statement, Lampsa underlined its confidence in Greek tourism and in the tourism upgrading of the Greek capital. The group covered the cost of recent refurbishment works at Syntagma Square in cooperation with the Municipality of Athens, which amounted to two million euros. Works at the square included the complete change of lighting (250,000 euros) and the decoration and illumination of the municipality’s Christmas Tree, which cost 70,000 euros.
Owned by the Laskaridis Group, Lampsa also owns the Sheraton Hotel on Rhodes and the Hyatt Regency and the Mercure Excelsior in Belgrade.