Posted on October 21, 2014 11:00:00 PM
[ BusinessWorld Online ]
ROBINSONS Land Corp. (RLC) set its
capital expenditure (capex) budget for the year ending September 2015 at P15-17
billion, with spending focused mainly on shopping centers, office buildings and
hotels in various parts of the country, its president said.
On the sidelines of a ceremony marking
the company’s 25th anniversary as a listed company, RLC President and Chief
Operating Officer Frederick D. Go told reporters that spending is in the
ballpark of the P16 billion spent in the fiscal year just concluded.
“For fiscal year 2015, we are looking
at P15 billion to P17 billion. A lot of our capex will be going to the
development of shopping centers and part of it will be for offices and hotels,”
Mr. Go explained, adding that RLC is “very bullish on the economy and consumer spending
that is why upgrades and construction of properties are continuous.”
Its biggest project for 2015,
according to Mr. Go, is the opening of Robinsons Galleria Cebu, which will
include a 76,000-square-meter shopping center and a 220-room Summit Hotel.
“That’s a fairly big project for us as
that would be the third mall and second hotel in Cebu,” Mr. Go said, adding
that “the mall is set to be opened on August 2015, and six month after is the
hotel.”
The developer will also open Robinsons
Place Las Piñas next week as well as Robinsons Place San Jose, Antique,
Robinsons Galleria Cebu and the expansion of Robinsons Place Novaliches next
year, increasing its gross leasable area (GLA) by 11%.
Other than the development and
expansion of malls that will be operational by next year, RLC said that it is
also pushing to open the 82-room Summit Hotel within the Robinsons Magnolia
area within the quarter.
“Another thing, we are quite excited
about is Terra Tower, which is only five minutes from the Ortigas area,” Mr. Go
said.
“We have enough space to build over 10
high-rise buildings so Terra Tower would be the first of many. Of course, we’re
hoping for the Terra tower to have great success that will encourage us to
build the next tower and the next and the next,” he added.
For residential operations, Mr. Go
stressed: “Everything depends on market conditions. We have something in the
pipeline, but a lot really depends on timing before we decide when to launch it
or not.”
On Tuesday, RLC shares ended trading
at P23.75, up 55 centavos or 2.37%. -- Chrisee Jalyssa V. Dela Paz
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