Tax breaks, infrastructure needs derailed the plan
The Cordish Companies’ bid to develop a $2.2 billion entertainment complex outside the Spanish capital city of Madrid has gone down in defeat.
The U.S.-based family-owned company, best known for redeveloping the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, first presented the proposal in December and said it would create 56,000 jobs for the regional economy, according to the Financial Times. Madrid’s center-right regional government initially liked the plan, then concluded that it cannot proceed in its current form.
In a March 24 statement, the government said Cordish had not proven that the project as it stands is “viable from an economic and organizational point of view.” The government also said the plan would have forced Madrid to invest at least €340 million (US$364 million) in roads and rail lines to guarantee access to the out-of-town complex.
Authorities said the decision followed a “profound, serious and rigorous” review, and added that Cordish may revise and resubmit the plan. They added that the region remains “open to investment, both domestic and international.”
Cordish responded by saying the local government “does not understand our application in two major respects. One, we make no requests for any public infrastructure nor any public subsidy by the government and in fact none is needed. Two, we are fully committed to a total build-out of a massive $2.2 billion integrated resort.”
Cordish said it remains “optimistic” that the government will take a second look at the offer and approve the application in its present form, and said the delay is a “shame for the citizens of Spain.”
Called Live! Resorts Madrid, the project would have includes hotels, theatres, convention facilities, restaurant and retail outlets and gaming facilities.
Cordish is not the only U.S. company that’s been shown the door in Spain. In 2014, Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. was forced to drop a planned $30 billion gambling and entertainment complex outside Madrid. That resort included 12 resorts and a total of six casinos with 18,000 gaming machines.
