The Greek government gave the green light on Thursday to the Chinese conglomerate Cosco to convert three buildings at the Piraeus port into luxury hotels.
The Greek Culture Ministry’s Central Council for Modern Monuments unanimously approved the Piraeus Port Authority’s “Master Plan” to convert the buildings.
The council approved plans to convert the 1960s “Pagoda” terminal building into a 300-room hotel and conference center, provided its character and outward appearance are not changed. The monuments council noted that the building was on its list of 113 examples of important twentieth-century architecture.
The panel also agreed with the Central Archaeological Council that the Stone Warehouse building can be converted into a Migration Museum, and that two five-story warehouses near an archaeological site can be turned into 200-room hotels.
However, the giant project’s approval by the ministry does not necessarily mean that Cosco’s multi-million-euro investment at Piraeus is in the clear yet.
Last week, the Central Archaeological Council ruled that some proposed projects at the port of Piraeus would affect archaeological sites.
In a unanimous decision at that time, the Central Archaeological panel rejected Cosco’s plan to create a shopping mall and a floating ship-repair dock because of antiquities concerns in the port area.
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