Apto is to develop a data center in Athens, Greece.

The company this week announced it has partnered with alternative investment manager Dromeus Capital Group to develop and operate a hyperscale data center in the Spata area of the Greek capital.

apto athens
Render of Apto's Athens facility – Apto

Located in an industrial zone 15 minutes from Athens International Airport, the €300 million ($328m) project has already received pre-approval and secured high-voltage power.

Further timelines and specifications were not shared.

Russell Poole, CEO of Apto, said: “With many hyperscalers already announcing their presence in the market, we believe Greece is well positioned to support the growth of the cloud and AI sector in Europe, bringing significant investment and job opportunities.”

Apto was launched last year by Pimco, an American investment management firm owned by Allianz Group and has a large European real estate platform.

The data center company is led by CEO Russell Poole, who was previously a long-serving UK managing director at Equinix. Poole joined Equinix in 2007 after the company acquired IXEurope.

Apto is focused on tier two and three markets, and was previously reported to have acquired a site in Madrid, Spain, for development.

Established in 2008, Dromeus had just under €500 million ($546m) in assets under management. It currently owns 26 commercial real estate assets around Athens. Though it lists digital infrastructure as an area of interest, this is seemingly the firm's first investment in the data center space.

Achilles Risvas, CEO & chief investment officer of Dromeus Capital Group, added: “At Dromeus, we have a proven track record in large-scale real estate and infrastructure developments, and we are excited to bring this experience to the fast-evolving data center space. Partnering with Apto allows us to leverage our local expertise and contribute to the establishment of a world-class hyperscale facility in Greece.”

Other operators with data centers in development or live in Athens include Sparkle, Data4, and Digital Realty.