MANILA, Philippines - Vista Land &
Lifescapes Inc. said it plans to build 50 community malls within its
masterplanned township projects across the country in the next five years as
part of a strategy to shore up rental income.
Sen. Manuel Villar, Vista Land
founder, said yesterday the planned malls, with an average gross floor area of
50,000 square meters, will serve the basic needs of the local residential
community.
The malls will feature premium spaces,
with lots of greens fronting the parking lots, convenient access and flexible
mall hours.
“We have accumulated 65 properties. We want to
take advantage of the booming real estate market by putting up retail centers
to augment our leasing revenues,” Villar said.
The company’s landbank includes
properties in key tourist areas that are now being developed in line with the
government’s tourism drive.
Villar said the planned retail centers
which will be under the Vista brand, will be different from the group’s Starmalls
which are far bigger.
Under construction are five malls,
located in Vista Land’s flagship Evia integrated community in Las Piñas;
Posadas in Sucat; Antipolo, Muntinlupa and San Fernando, Pampanga.
Vista Land earlier signed two
long-term lease agreements with Puregold Price Club Inc., which will be the
anchor store in its masterplanned community projects in Pampanga and Antipolo.
It also concluded a long-term lease
agreement with Tantoco-owned Rustan Supercenters Inc., which will be the anchor
store in the first commercial building in Vista Land’s Evia project.
Villar said the company is
aggressively expanding its presence nationwide with plans to reach 20 new
areas. By end of next year, he said Vista Land expects to cover the whole
Philippines.
The move is in line with its goal to
provide affordable housing to every Filipino.
For this year, Vista Land is rolling
out 32 new residential subdivisions in and outside Metro Manila, with an
estimated total project value of P32 billion. This is significantly higher than
the 23 projects launched in 2011 with an estimated value of about P21 billion.
Vista Land is the holding company of
five business units – namely, Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella Homes, Communities
Philippines and Vista Residences.
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