Written by Ed Velasco
Friday, 21 September 2012 00:00 [ tribune.net.ph ]
There is still no taker for the old
building of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) which is now being
sold for P400 million.
According to the PDIC’s Corporate
Affairs Group (CAG), the price of the building went up from P200 million.
CAG officer-in-charge Jun Villaret
said the initial P200 million selling price for the building is too low given
it’s solid structure, perfect location and size.
“That’s too low. We want to double
that. The problem is there’s no serious taker either for sale or for lease,”
Villaret told The Daily Tribune in a recent breakfast meeting.
He said their department got many inquiries regarding their final decision.
However, nothing happens after the
inquiries.
“If you can help us sell the building,
we will be glad because until now we haven’t found any buyer,” he said.
He said there are two options being
studied for the building — one is to sell and
the other is let other offices, government or private, lease it.
Villaret said the market value of the
building will definitely increase because the flooding will be surely solved
once the major flood control project is finished.
A big establishment located very close
to the building is also almost finished.
The new edifice will make the old
building attractive to buyers because of the business activities its
neighboring building will create.
“At the end of the street near MRT is
a cozy and towering condo and a thriving mall in front. Who wouldn’t want to be
located in an area like that? It’s like being in Manhattan’s 5th Avenue,”
Villaret said in jest.
New York’s 5th Avenue is an iconic,
upscale area where head offices of some of the world’s most expensive shops
like Prada, Tommy Hilfiger, Versace, Escada, Armani and Louis Vuitton are
located.
At present, the eight-storey,
55,000-square foot old PDIC building serves as its stock room and extension
office for tons of papers that have stocked since the corporation’s
establishment in 1963.
PDIC is now housed at the 4th to 10th
floor of the SSS building along Ayala Avenue corner V.A. Rufino St. in Makati
City.
_____________________________________________________________
