Businessman Italian Giuseppe Cipriani no will attend this Friday, January 14, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) for the signing of the concession contract for the private exploitation of a casino in Maldonado. The investor is in charge of remodeling the ex-hotel and casino San Rafael in Punta del Este, which also includes a millionaire real estate project.
Initially, the firm had been scheduled for December 21. However, Cipriani reportedly contracted COVID-19 abroad and unable to travel to Uruguay. For this reason, the Executive Power agreed to grant an extension for this Friday, January 14 at hour 12. However, this will not happen because the firm Fosara – the name of Cipriani’s company – requested a “new extension” from the Ministry of Economy for the signing of the contract. “The MEF decided to give it until January 28, complying with the principles of collaboration and good faith that should exist in public procurement, making every effort to carry out a project of general interest,” sources from that portfolio told The Observer.
The contract that Cipriani plans to sign is for the operation of a private casino for 20 years that is conditional on the construction of a luxury hotel. The award of the concession was granted in December 2020 at the height of the pandemic in Uruguay. In mid-April of last year, it was known that the new version of the Cipriani project eliminated the two horizontal towers that were articulated with the old hotel building and incorporated three vertical towers. One of them would be located exactly behind the new luxury hotel, and would be 237 meters high.
The second tower that would be located further to the east would be 170 meters high, and a third building is expected to be 125 meters high. This new design gives the possibility of the work being developed in stages, as has been stated by the team of architects headed by the Uruguayan Rafael Viñoly.
Until now, the information that the Maldonado Municipality has is that it would first begin with the reconstruction of the hotel and the basement where the private casino – key to the business – and the rest of the services will be located. And only after, with that part already operational, would the first tower be built.
At the time, it was managed that the amount of the group’s investment Cripriani was of US $ 450 million and that would generate about 800 jobs directly.
