Chinese businessman buys emblematic Spanish building

Chinese businessman Wang Jianlin bought the emblematic building known as "Edificio Espana" in Madrid after reaching an agreement with Spain's Grupo Santander, president of the Community of Madrid Ignacio Gonzalez said on Wednesday.

According to local media, Gonzalez told reporters during an event in Madrid that Emilio Botin, Executive Chairman of Spain's Grupo Santander, had confirmed the sale of the building on Tuesday.

Gonzalez explained that he had met Wang last week to "reach some agreements on investment projects," adding the sale of the building will be very important to recover the area of Spain Square in Madrid, where the building is located.

The Edificio Espana is an example of the Spanish architecture from the 1940s and 1950s. It was inaugurated in 1953 as the highest building in Europe with its 117 meters high.

The construction required an investment of 200 million pesetas (1.67 million U.S. dollars), Spain's former currency, and it took five years to build its 25 floors, 32 lifts, 184 apartments, a luxury hotel with 307 rooms, a ballroom for 1,200 people and a swimming pool on the upper deck.

The building was a hotel, a shopping center and it had apartments and offices until 2006. Its rehabilitation began in 2007, but it stopped afterwards and the "Edificio Espana" became an abandoned building.