Lake Balaton overrun with luxury properties and controversial projects

In recent years, the shores of Lake Balaton have seen a proliferation of large-scale investments, luxury buildings, and private properties. Often met with pushback from locals, the amount of green space and open beach areas is severely reduced with each new project. Despite the opposition of some residents, who have even taken matters to court, several giga-investments have been commenced and finished around Lake Balaton in the last decade or so.

Telex has collected the most important major controversial projects that have been completed already and which could be completed in the coming years around the lake.

The north shore of Lake Balaton

In Balatonakarattya, the conference centre of the Hungarian National Bank Foundation was erected in 2022 on the site of a former holiday resort used by the Hungarian Railways. A special feature of the conference centre is that the lake itself was channelled onto the property, with a permit to create a so-called “welfare water area”. Locals have criticised the project mainly because the new complex, which covers over 12,000 square metres, has significantly disturbed the environment and the surrounding infrastructure has not been adapted to the development.

The fate of the former waterfront campsites is the subject of some controversy in Balatonakali. One of them has closed for good, but the planned terraced houses have not been built on its site. The other was liquidated in 2016 and split in two, one half of which came to the ownership of Lőrinc Mészáros (this campsite still operates today), while on the other half, new apartment buildings have been erected. The latter project, called The Village Holiday, made the news in 2019 when the contractor demolished protected reeds in a 150-metre-long area, for which the two people on the contractor team received suspended prison sentences and fines.

In Badacsonyörs, part of Badacsonytomaj, a similar issue arose in 2021, when the owner of a camping site there cut down trees claiming that they were diseased, to the outrage of many. Residents and holiday homeowners organised a public forum to find out what works were planned in the area, eventually finding out that a four-star hotel, apartments, and a campsite were to be built at the previous campsite. However, the project has yet to be completed.

Balatonfüred is in a unique position when it comes to development: as Telex reports, although the number of projects linked to government officials is extremely high there—there is almost always some kind of project going on, the biggest being perhaps the Balaport real estate complex, which includes luxury apartments and a five-star hotel—local residents do not usually take a united stand against them.

Telex also reports on NER (Nemzeti Együttműködés Rendszere, System of National Cooperation) expropriation in the case of Tihany, which is a favourite holiday resort of the Hungarian political elite, who have holiday homes and plots of land here. In contrast to Balatonfüred, in recent months there has been a big stir over a planned investment project that would have virtually built up an area that had been spontaneously afforested but was officially counted as a construction site. The construction of the apartments, planned by the real estate development company Cordia, was opposed by several civil groups and was postponed in March. From 1 October, Balázs Kötél, an independent politician, will take over as mayor, therefore it is not known whether the project will ever start.

The southern shore of Lake Balaton

Investors plan a 71-apartment, three-storey building complex in Balatonmáriafürdő, which was announced in 2022 and sparked a huge backlash from local civic activists: 12,000 people signed a petition against the project. In the end, the investor found a loophole to obtain the necessary building permits by increasing the number of service apartments in the plans.

The construction of a new electric e-port in Balatonföldvár met with similar resistance from some locals, although it eventually received the necessary permits. A 2.3-hectare marina with a total area of 2.8 hectares and two jetties with a capacity of 175 boats will be built on the site, for which Balabo Ltd. won a state subsidy of HUF 897 million (EUR 2.28 million).

Balatonszemes is also to see a new luxury residential complex on the site of a former campsite, with 153 apartments, underground parking, swimming pools, and a private beach. As part of the project, over 8,600 square metres, the bed of Lake Balaton will be deepened by dredging and a 150-square-metre pier will also be built.

Balaland, a hotel and residential complex in Szántód, has received an even more significant non-refundable investment from the state of more than HUF 6 billion (EUR 15 million). As Telex highlights, this venture is also closely linked to NER.

In Balatonvilágos, a 540-metre-long promenade was parcelled up and cleared, creating 13 plots directly on the shore of Lake Balaton. Locals oppose the property complex investments because they fear they will lose their free beachfront. The issue has already been taken to court several times.

Read also:

• Lake Balaton: Invasive species and climate change threaten its future
• Average prices on Lake Balaton property market exceeded those in Budapest

Featured image: depositphotos.com

Source: Telex