Original Article : https://www.powergame.gr/akinita/395077/finders-o-neos-israilinos-paiktis-ston-klado-filoxenias-tis-athinas/
With three hotels under construction in central Athens, several short-term rental apartment buildings and another hotel in Rethymno expected to open gradually by the end of 2024, Israeli-owned Finders is expected to become the new, much-discussed investment and development company in next time.
Since 2014, Amir Mamou manages five private Israeli funds totaling 50 million euros, which have invested in the real estate market of Greece and Israel. As Irini Panagopoulou, Operation Manager of Finders, reported to powergame.gr, the investment company invested in the real estate market in Greece, at a time when investment opportunities were great. “The only area of Athens that has huge scope for development is that of Omonia”, says Mrs. Panagopoulou characteristically while the company chooses to invest in Greece as the taxation system is favorable for Israelis and there is easy and fast air access with many daily flights . “Since 2014, we have walked approximately 34,000 sq.m. real estate, we keep a map of all the properties we have visited, and we have made 90 sales with 110-120 clients.” One of these clients is Brown, also of Israeli interests. Finders people, as brokers,
The new hotel in Athens
At the junction of Chalkokondili and 3rd September streets , crews are working feverishly to reconstruct an old 7-story office building and turn it into a hotel unit with 42 rooms. It will be a smart hotel , where the guest, after making his online reservation, will receive a link with which he will open the application created especially for the hotel by an Israeli technology company, through which he will be able to check-in. in, choose the room of his choice, receive the QR code with which he will unlock the smart lock of his room, order food and drink, book excursions and sightseeing tours in the area, and much more.
Entering the lobby of the hotel, an impressive installation by Finders’ artistic director, the charismatic artist Kirios Criton, will run through all floors of the building, while inside the rooms there will be his own works of art (numbered copies) which will also be available for sale.
On the ground floor there will be a restaurant/bar which will be outsourced to a third party, while a large swimming pool is being built on the roof, with an incomparable view of the Acropolis and Lycabettus, the only swimming pool in Omonia. Finders offices in Athens will also operate on the ground floor, while a Real Estate Hub will also be created.
Finders’ aim is for the hotel to welcome its first guests in July 2023, initially without the ground floor restaurant operating.
Other 18 properties in Athens
Finders currently owns 18 other properties in Athens, of which 8 are buildings (6 under construction) and the rest individual apartments which are all privately owned. They are under renovation and will then be handed over to short-term rental accommodation management companies. “Finders’ goal is to reach a total of 40 properties in Athens and Crete by the end of 2024,” says Ms. Panagopoulou.
The next opening is scheduled for the end of March and concerns a building on Lavraga Street in Kolonos, with 11 apartments.
In the first quarter of 2024, a 4-storey building in Gazi with 20 apartments, which is undergoing renovation under the supervision of the architectural office Pieris Architects, will start operation.
Finders also owns a building at the junction of Epirou and 3rd of September Streets, in which 15-17 apartments will be created with shops in the basement, as well as the former Prigipikon Hotel (right next to Brown’s Dave Red Athens) on Verangerou Street, for the utilization of which there are thoughts for creating a hostel or apartments.
Finally, the creation of a large hotel in the center of Athens will soon be announced, after the finalization of an agreement to purchase a series of neighboring buildings.
Portfolio also in Crete
The portfolio of Finders also expands in Crete and more specifically, in Rethymno and Chania. The abandoned Hotel Sfakaki, in Sfakaki Rethymno, is currently under renovation, which will be expanded and 6 small villas will be added to it. It will be ready in the first quarter of 2024.
Also, next week, the signatures will be signed for the acquisition of two adjacent seaside plots in Kalyves, Chania, where Finders is going to create villas.