Posted on November 25, 2012 10:34:10
PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
PROPERTY DEVELOPER Robinsons Land
Corp. plans to build a hotel in its Magnolia Town Square complex in order to
tap underserved demand for such accommodations in Quezon City, a senior company
official said recently.
“We are planning a hotel. We’re still trying to finalize the concept,
and we’re not yet ready to divulge the actual product as of now,” May L.
Precilla, Robinsons Land vice-president for sales and marketing, said in an
interview on the sidelines of the launch of the company’s The Sapphire Bloc
project at Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila on Monday last week when asked about
Robinsons Land’s plans for further Magnolia Town Square development.
“It will be more of a boutique hotel,
not like Crowne and Holiday Inn [Galleria Manila]. It will be smaller,” Ms.
Precilla added, referring to Robinsons Land’s two hotels in its 5,000-hectare
Robinsons Galleria complex in Quezon City.
Magnolia Town Square is Robinsons
Land’s mixed-use development at the corner of Aurora Boulevard and Doña M. Hemady
Avenue in New Manila. The complex sits on a 5.2-hectare property that used to
be the site of the old Magnolia Ice Cream House.
The mixed-use project consists of the
four-tower The Magnolia Residences condominium complex and Robinsons Magnolia,
a four-storey shopping mall.
“It will be a good complement to our
hotel developments right now.
And also, when you think of the Quezon
City or New Manila area, there is no hotel there as of now. It could be a first
in the area,” Ms. Precilla said.
Meanwhile, asked whether the company
will rope in a foreign brand to operate the hotel, Ms. Precilla said: “Let’s
just say it will be a Robinsons brand.”
Robinsons Land, incorporated in 1980,
is the property arm of listed conglomerate JG Summit Holdings, Inc. It has
built 32 malls, 33 residential projects and eight office buildings to date.
Aside from Crowne Plaza and Holiday
Inn in Quezon City, Robinsons Land operates eight other hotels under its Hotel
Division: two Summit hotels each in Cebu and Tagaytay cities, as well as four
budget GoHotels in cities in Luzon and the Visayas, its end-June financial
report showed.
For the 2012 fiscal year, the
Gokongwei-led company has earmarked P13 billion for capital expenditures --
just slightly below P13.9 billion in 2011 -- which will be sourced from cash
operations and debt, Frederick D. Go, Robinsons Land president, said last
April. More than 60% of the funding will go to malls, office buildings, and
hotels, while the rest will be earmarked for residential condominiums and
housing units.
The company grew its net income by
10.16% to P3.36 billion in the nine months ending June from P3.05 billion the
previous year on the back of improved revenues across all its business
segments.
The firm’s shares rose 18 centavos to
P18.44 apiece last Friday. -- Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente
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