By Neil Jerome C. Morales (The
Philippine Star) | Updated December 6, 2013 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Property firm
Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) is launching its 35th shopping mall in the country
in line with its goal of beefing up its presence in the northern side of the
National Capital Region.
The real estate arm of tycoon John
Gokongwei Jr. said it will start commercial operations of Robinsons Place
Malolos, its second mall in Bulacan, next week.
The new shopping mall forms part of
RLC’s plan to put up more shopping centers in key cities north of Metro Manila.
“With its central location, we can
expect that Robinsons Place Malolos will be able to serve the needs not just of
Malolos but also the nearby towns and cities in the progressive province of
Bulacan,” said Arlene Magtibay, senior vice-president and general manager of
RLC’s commercial centers division.
Robinsons Place Malolos occupies a
2.6-hectare lot along MacArthur Highway, adjacent to all the commercial,
educational, government institutions, hospitals, churches, and residential
developments in the city.
The four-story shopping mall with a
multi-level parking area has a gross floor area of 67,340 square meters (sqm),
and gross leasable space of 27,093 sqm.
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Aside from its rich historical and
cultural heritage, Malolos is a first class urban center that is rapidly
becoming industrialized due to its proximity to Metro Manila. It is also the
banking capital of Bulacan.
“Robinsons Place Malolos further beefs
up RLC’s very strong presence in provinces to the north of Metro Manila,”
Magtibay said.
RLC has shopping malls in major growth areas
north of Metro Manila such as San Fernando and Angeles in Pampanga, Hacienda
Luisita in Tarlac, Calasiao in Pangasinan and San Nicolas in Ilocos Norte.
Anchor tenants of Robinsons Place
Malolos are Robinsons Supermarket, Robinsons Department Store, Handyman,
Robinsons Appliance, South Star Drug and Robinsons Bank. Robinsons Movieworld
will have four all-digital cinemas including a 3D cinema with a seating
capacity of more than 1,000.
It will also offer a wide selection of
restaurants and fastfood outlets, fashion boutiques, tech and service stores as
well as health and beauty clinics.
Robinsons Place Malolos is the third
Robinsons Mall to open this year, following Robinsons Place Butuan that opened
late last month and Robinsons Town Mall Malabon that started operations last
Wednesday.
For the October 2012 to June 2013
period of its fiscal year, RLC’s net income jumped 8.8 percent to P3.64 billion
from P3.35 billion the previous year. Total real estate revenues surged 24.3
percent to P11.25 billion against P9.04 billion while hotel revenues gained
11.8 percent to P1.14 billion.
Aside from property, the Gokongwei
family is also into retail (Robinsons Retail Holdings), budget airline (Cebu
Pacific) and banking (Robinsons Bank Corp.), petrochemicals (JG Summit
Petrochemicals Corp.), and snacks and beverage (Universal Robina Corp.).
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