Madrid turns down offer to build $2.3 billion entertainment project

MADRID (Reuters) - The city of Madrid on Friday turned down an offer from U.S. real estate developer Cordish Companies to build a 2.2 billion euro (1.84 billion pounds) entertainment complex in the Spanish capital. The 134-hectare piazza dubbed 'Live! Resorts Madrid' and comprising dining, shopping and hotel facilities would have been the largest of its kind in Europe, with the creation of over 50,000 jobs. The regional government, however, ruled that it would have cost 340 million euros of public money to build the needed infrastructure around the complex, while the economic viability of the project was not certain. It is the second time a project of this kind has failed to come to fruition in the Spanish capital. In 2013, U.S. casino operator Las Vegas Sands abandoned plans for a $3 billion gambling resort 'Eurovegas' after the government refused to give ground on certain demands, such as lifting a nationwide smoking ban inside the complex. (Reporting by Jose Elias Rodriguez, writing by Julien Toyer; Editing by Toby Davis)