Timeline
May 2014 The Catalan Parliament passes the law that will allow for up to six casino licenses in the area of the Recreational and Tourism Centre in Vila-seca and Salou, south of Barcelona. The regional government announces that it will soon begin the process of approving the BCN World Master Plan in order to define the zoning, and the public tender for the licenses. In the same month, Macau casino developer Lawrence Ho announces that Melco International Development has signed a memorandum of understanding with Veremonte Espana of Spain to operate at least one casino as part of the BCN resort.
July 2014 Caesars Entertainment reportedly enters the race to be one of the six operators.
July 2015 Hard Rock International’s CEO Hamish Dodds reveals that the company could be one of the main investors in BCN World spending €900m on its part of the project.
June 2015 Catalan Business Minister, Felip Puig, announces that Veremonte has pulled out of the project. The news was later confirmed by the company. The investment company had reached an agreement with La Caixa bank to buy 500 hectares of the land in 2012. However, it missed both the first and the second deadline in December 2014 to do so. In the June issue of G3, Veremonte Managing Director, Xavier Adserà, suggested that the project could move location from Barcelona as a result.
July 2015 In response to the comments in G3, the Catalan Government issues a statement refuting this claim. Damià Calvet, Director of the Catalan Land Institute and coordinator of the project for the Government of Catalonia tells G3: “The Government of Catalonia would like to clarify that the project to create an integrated tourism complex with casinos on the Vila-seca and Salou Recreational and Tourist Center land is promoted by the government and, as a result, the development will carry on at this location. So, with or without Veremonte, the project continues to move forward,”
October 2015 Hong Kong-based MelcoLot confirms that it ‘remains interested’ in the tender process to operate a casino at the site, despite having severed a deal to bid for a licence with Veremonte España SL.
February 2016 The project is placed on ‘stand-by’ due to growing political differences over the nature of project, while the final urban planning has yet to be approved.
Timeline
June 2016 The Vice President of Catalonia Oriol Junqueras announces that the government will allow for a new project, provisionally entitled the Tourist and Recreation Complex (CRT). It will be far less ambitious than envisaged and will have more emphasis on tourism as opposed to casinos.
According to Junqueras, a total of €2.5bn will be invested in the project, which will create 10,000 jobs. Gaming space, will be reduced drastically to just four per cent of the total space of the new project.
The final plan allows for a maximum of two casino licences. In all, the project shrinks from a million square metres to 750,000 (a 25 per cent reduction). Of this amount 30,000sq.m will be destined for casinos, while the remaining 96 per cent will be allocated for hotels, convention centres and other commercial uses.
Junqueras emphasises that the new project is “much more realistic, sustainable and integrated into the environment,” while at the same time will still be attractive for investors. The Minister promises that by the end of the year the government will approve the urban master plan and that the winners will be announced before the summer of 2017.
Hard Rock, Melco and Peralada deposit a bond of €2.5m each committing to buy land where the hotels, casinos and shopping areas will be built. Both Melco and Hard Rock compete to operate a casino each, while the Peralada Group, in partnership with the Genting Group, also compete to be the sole operator and will run a single large scale casino in the resort if they win the bid.
August 2016 Greenpeace highlights the project as one of eight developments they say will further destroy the natural beauty of the Mediterranean and south Atlantic coasts.
December 2016 The Urban-Development Master Plan for the Tourist and Recreation Complex is approved after a six month public consultation period. Josep Rull, Minister of Territory and Sustainability, says that a number of important changes had been made when it came to infrastructure as well as the protection of the environment. Work on the complex is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2017.
March 2017 The three companies interested in the leisure and entertainment complex are given an additional three months in order to submit their proposals.
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