New auction for former Desyllas factory in November
ATHENS. The starting price is 5.3 million euros, the same as in May when the procedure was suspended following an agreement between the Municipality and the Bank, in order for the Municipality to participate as well.
An announcement for the auction for the former Desyllas factory has been posted on the bank's platform for the fifth time. This time, the starting price is 5.3 million euros. In the first three attempts, the process concluded without a bidder, and in the fourth, it was suspended after a request from the Central Corfu Municipality, which was accepted by the Bank to allow the Municipality to bid on the property. Time has passed, and the Municipality has not made any further announcements beyond its initial intentions. As a result, a repeat auction will take place on November 22, 2024, as posted on the platform, with Piraeus Bank acting as the representative of the bondholders and a starting bid of 5,354,050 euros, the same as in the suspended May auction. In the first two auctions, which were declared unsuccessful, the starting price was set at 8.237 million euros and later reduced to 6,589,600 in the third auction.
The factory includes a building area of approximately 37,647 square metres and about 90 buildings, three of which are outside the building area. When it was operational, it comprised structures with a total area of 15,500 square metres. The entire site is preserved both as a building infrastructure and as industrial machinery, through successive decisions made by the Ministers of Culture, Melina Mercouri and Thanos Mikroutsikos, in the 1980s and 1990s.
Regarding the industrial history of the site, the archaeological aspect is also significant. Excavations have already revealed part of the enclosure wall of Alcinous's harbour on the former industrial field, as described in the relevant references by Thucydides, a small temple, and part of a paved area (all references can be found in the relevant Archaeological Bulletin of the Ministry of Culture). Part of the harbour is also recorded within the boundaries of the Mon Repos enclosure and in the area expropriated by the State, known as the Kokotou estate. The entire region comprises the largest part of ancient Corcyra (Corfu) from historical times, known as Paleopolis.
The Central Corfu Municipality wants to acquire the site of the former factory to facilitate archaeological research, which, according to recent statements by Mayor Stefanos Poulimenos, could be funded by resources from the ESPA programme. Such discussions could have been advanced by the visit of the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, to Corfu, which was announced in July but was then postponed, with no further announcement made.
GIORGOS KATSAITIS
