By Jenniffer
B. Austria | Posted on May. 04, 2013 at 12:01am |
[
manilastandardtoday.com ]
Condominium
builder Megaworld Corp. said Friday it will expand the P25-billion Iloilo
Business Park by 18 hectares because of increased demand for housing and retail
developments in the Western Visayas.
Megaworld in
a statement said the expansion would make the Iloilo Business Park a 72-hectare
development project.
The site of
the project is the former Iloilo Airport, which Megaworld acquired from the
national government in 2007 for P1.2 billion in cash.
“We are
expanding to cater to the increasing demand for residential and commercial
properties in Iloilo Business Park. During the past months, we have experienced
the overwhelming reception of Ilonggos to our first development in the region,”
Megaworld first vice president Jericho Go said.
The business
park is designed to be a mixed-use township that will include residential
condominiums, boutique hotel and commercial lots, office towers, two luxury
hotels, the Iloilo Convention Center, the Megaworld Central Mall and Annex, and
the 1.1-kilometer Festive Walk commercial strip.
Megaworld in 2011 earmarked P2.5 billion to jump-start
the development within the area.
It began
selling its first condominium tower in March, the One Madison Place. The
residential project is now 85 percent sold out while the second tower is
scheduled for pre-selling this month.
The company
also started the construction of two office towers and a hotel within the
business park. The towers are expected to be completed next year.
Iloilo
Business Park is Megaworld’s biggest township in the Visayas, modelled after
the company’s ‘live-work-play’ formula that it pioneered in the Philippines.
Among its successful townships are Eastwood City, known as the Philippines’
first cyberpark; McKinley Hill in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig; and Newport
City in Pasay City, home of the famous Resorts World Manila.
Megaworld
last month raised $250 million from the issuance of 10-year notes priced at
4.25 percent.
Megaworld
plans to spend P35 billion in capital expenditures this year as it remains
bullish about the property sector.
It plans to
launch at least 10 residential projects in the first half of the year.
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