Ministry of Tourism shuts down hotel that hides Acropolis view

The Ministry of Tourism announced the closure of the Coco-Mat hotel in the Athens district of Koukaki, because its owner did not comply with the government’s decision to demolish the top two floors, as they hide the view of the Acropolis.

The building permit was partially canceled because the necessary permits from the Ministry of Culture were missing.

The dispute between the state and the owners of the hotel has been going on since 2019, when residents (rather competitors) of the area began to complain about the height of the building. Several ministerial decrees specified that the height of a building could not exceed 21 m.

A statement released on Wednesday evening by the Ministry of Tourism said that procedures are currently underway to immediately decommission the COCO MAT ATHENS BC hotel “in connection with the partial revocation of the building permit.”

Among other things, the ministry stated that “by its document dated 21/4/2023, the competent Attica Regional Tourism Authority sent a request for an explanation to the hotel in order to investigate the reasons for which no changes were made to the notification details of this tourist accommodation in the business notification information system after the modification of the building permit No. 15/2017, and appropriate explanations were given regarding its operation.

The Eumorphides Brothers Hotel, located in the center of Athens on Falirou Street, has repeatedly been accused of “blocking the view of the Acropolis”, and the Council of Ministers is also pushing for the immediate demolition of its two highest floors.

For its part, the company said on Thursday that “following the legal actions of the company and the decision of 05/29/2023 of the Athens Central Sector of the Decentralized Administration of Attica” act “on the partial withdrawal of the building permit on 15/2017 of the company’s hotel, which served as the basis for recognizing its premises as more than 24 m and the imposition of fines for the construction and maintenance of arbitrariness, was canceled as non-existent.

This decision regarding the apparently non-existent act of partial cancellation of the permit, which did not entail any legal consequences, was also repeated by the Law Enforcement Council of the Council of State in minutes number 15/2023.

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