By Perseus Echeminada and Richmond
Mercurio (The Philippine Star) | Updated April 21, 2015 - 12:00am
STAR/File photo
MANILA, Philippines - Ayala Land Inc.,
the property development arm of the Ayala Group, has joined the action at the
Pagcor Entertainment City in Parañaque with its plan to build a huge mall
complex, a BPO center and a hotel within a nine-hectare property, according to
documents filed with the Parañaque City government.
Ayala Land commercial business group
head Jose Emmanuel Jalandoni said the project would have a mall, hotel and
office components. He said construction is set to start this year and
completion is eyed by the second half of 2018. According to Jalandoni, about
P12 billion is the project cost of the planned mixed-use development.
Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez, in a
statement, said the decision of Ayala Land to invest in the southern city is a
huge vote of confidence for the city, which in 2014 was adjudged the country’s
most competitive city in terms of economic dynamism and is now dubbed the Mega
City by the Bay.
“This is another affirmation of
Parañaque’s emergence as a new economic and business hub,” he said. “We welcome
with open arms Ayala Land’s investment which we estimate should create at least
10,000 new jobs for our people and help sustain the country’s robust economic
growth,” he said
Olivarez said Ayala Land filed an
application for a locational clearance with the city’s Local Zoning Board of
Adjustments and Appeals for its Entertainment City project, which is entirely
within the jurisdiction of Barangay Tambo in Parañaque.
The application was approved by the
board last week, he added.
The mayor said Ayala Land’s decision
is in response to the city’s “Invest in Parañaque” program, which is aimed at
attracting more long-term investments that create stable jobs.
He said more businesses have expressed
similar interest to locate in Parañaque in the coming months.
Melanie S. Malaya, head of the city’s
Business Permits and Licensing Office and a member of the board, said Ayala
Land’s specific application is for the construction of a mall along Macapagal
Ave. which would be bigger than the nearby SM Mall of Asia complex. The MOA is
listed as having 407,000 sqm in gross floor area.
The BPLO chief said the mall would
become Parañaque’s biggest mall and is seen to compete head on with the Mall of
Asia.
She said the Ayala Group has secured a
45-year lease for the 9.2-hectare property from the Wenceslao group, owner of
the Aseana Business Park complex, for the project. The property is located
right across the new City of Dreams Manila, a casino and hotel complex also
owned by the SM Group in partnership with the Melco Crown group of Macau.
Ayala Land would also develop a BPO
center and a 12-storey hotel with at least 325 rooms within the leased
property, Malaya added.
The entry of the Ayala group at the Entertainment
City effectively bringstogether all the country’s biggest property developers
in the area, which already has two casino complexes in operation: The City of
Dreams of the SMgroup and the Solaire Resorts and Casino of port mogul Enrique
Razon.
Two other casinos are also set to
built at the entertainment city : the Bay shore City Resorts Worlds of
Travellers International group, a joint
venture between Filipino tycoon
Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc.
and the Genting group of Malaysian, and Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada’s
Manila Bay Resorts project.
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