Posted on
April 22, 2013 10:28:25 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
CEBU CITY --
Ayala Land, Inc. plans to develop a third business district in this city and
bring in its Amaia residential brand to the province this year, as its local
units build up existing twin business districts here.
Antonino T.
Aquino, Ayala Land president, said the company is scouting for a property
within the city that is as big as the 27-hectare Cebu IT Park or the 50-hectare
Cebu Business Park.
He declined
to identify potential locations, but confirmed the firm was looking at South
Road Properties, a 300-hectare reclaimed area that hosts the 30-hectare
development of SM Prime Holdings, Inc. and the 50-hectare mixed-use project of
Filinvest Land, Inc.
“We see
within the city three or more business districts. (Ayala Land) participating in
the development of a third or fourth business district is something that would
potentially happen,” Mr. Aquino said in a news conference after the Cebu
Holdings, Inc. (CHI) stockholders’ meeting yesterday.
He added the
firm was scouting for a property that could be developed into the first Amaia
project in Cebu province. Ayala Land’s three other residential brands, namely:
Ayala Land Premier, Alveo and Avida, have already established presence in the
two business districts.
CHI, a listed
affiliate of Ayala Land, has earmarked some P3.4 billion for new and existing
projects, as well as land acquisition this year.
Investments
with other Ayala Land units here will total P5.4 billion this year, said CHI
President Francis O. Monera.
CHI 76%-owned
subsidiary Cebu Property Ventures & Development Corp. (CPVDC), meanwhile,
will redevelop this year a five-hectare lot at the heart of Cebu IT Park into a
mixed-use block with retail, residential and commercial components.
Mr. Monera,
who is also CPVDC president, said a master plan is being drawn up for the area.
“We still
have to firm up the master plan. We don’t know the figures yet,” he said.
The area is
envisioned to include Ayala’s second mall in Cebu, residential and office
towers, and a hotel.
On the site
currently stands eOffice, a one-storey modular building that CPVDC built about
a decade ago to lure information technology locators.
Mr. Monera
said eOffice will be demolished this year and locators have been advised to
relocate to other buildings within the park to pave for the redevelopment
project.
During the
CPVDC stockholders’ meeting yesterday, Mr. Monera said the project “comes at an
opportune time, with the strong business process outsourcing industry and the
resulting high spending power of the market.”
He said the
project is supported by the company’s strong balance sheet.
CPVDC’s
mother company, CHI, ended 2012 with record-high net income of P441 million and
revenues of P1.6 billion. CHI shares gained 22 centavos or 4.05% to close at
P5.65 apiece yesterday from P5.43 each on Friday last week. CHI has two wholly
owned subsidiaries, namely: CBP Theater Management, Inc. and Cebu Leisure
Company, Inc., according to the company’s page on the Philippine Stock Exchange
Web site. -- Marites S. Villamor
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