Centro Canalejas Madrid, a luxury hotel, residential, and retail complex currently under development in the Spanish capital is expected to be completed in 2019 and to cost developers the amount of €525 million. The multi-purpose complex is 50% owned by PokerStars co-founder Mark Scheinberg.
Mr. Scheinberg purchased his stake in the endeavor in February 2017 for €225 million through Mohari Limited, but it was several months later that his participation was confirmed. Grupo Villar Mir and OHL Desarrollos are the other two companies involved in the multi-million scheme. The latter two purchased the land where the complex would be located from its previous occupant Banco Santander back in 2012.
Centro Canalejas Madrid is planned to feature a 200-room Four Seasons Hotel, the popular Canadian chain’s first in Spain, a residential area (which will, too, be operated by Four Seasons), and 15,000 square meters of retail space, and multiple food and beverage facilities. A parking with 400 spaces and 4,200 square meters of spa, restaurants, banquet halls, and meeting facilities will also complement the expensive project.
The development scheme will involve the restoration of a group of seven buildings located in the old quarter of Madrid. The buildings previously accommodated the offices of several Spanish banks.
It is estimated that the complex will create around 4,800 jobs, both direct and indirect ones. The project has also been touted as one aimed to revitalize the area and to protect the historic and cultural qualities of the buildings it will include.
Despite developers’ promise to keep the spirit of the area, there have been heritage defense groups that have opposed the multi-million scheme and the risks that it might pose to the integrity of the area. Here it is interesting to note that some of the buildings that will accommodate the complex date back two centuries ago.
Mark Scheinberg’s Involvement in the Project
Mr. Scheinberg is known to be the co-founder and former owner of online poker room PokerStars. The Stars Group (formerly Amaya) purchased the poker brand’s parent company The Rational Group back in 2014 for nearly $5 billion. Reportedly, Mr. Scheinberg alone collected $3 billion from the deal, which was actually the largest one in the online gaming space at the time. It can be said that little has been heard of the Israeli-Canadian businessman since then, but it seems that he has been pursuing different investment opportunities.
The purchase of a stake in Centro Canalejas Madrid marks Mr. Scheinberg’s first foray into Spain’s real estate market, which is in a period of recovery from the burst of the property bubble back in 2008. Back then, the huge rise of property prices that existed as a trend in the country between 1990 and 2006 suddenly collapsed to evoke serious economic uncertainties.
According to Forbes, Mr. Scheinberg’s estimated net worth currently stands at $4.5 billion.
