04/25/2012 [ tribune.net.ph ]
Listed high-end residential and
leisure properties developer Belle Corp. is set to build a mall beside its
$750-million casino development in Pagcor City.
Beside Belle Grande is a 2.5-hectare
free lot where the “Belle Grande mall” will be built and construction for this
mall will commence next week and will take 12 to 18 months to finish and will
be 100-percent completed by 2014, Belle Corp. vice chairman Willy Ocier said.
Belle Corp. CFO Manuel Gana said the
structure cost is P2 billion, and is included in the P4.4 billion to P4.5
billion capex for the casino and hotels development. He noted that the hotel
and casino operation can start its operations while construction is ongoing for
the mall.
The mall, to be operated by Leisure
and Resorts World Corp. (LRWC) which is also the operator of Belle Grande, will
have a gross floor area of more than 260,000 sqm, and while there are no final
plans yet on how big the leasable area will be, it is estimated to be roughly
70,000 to 90,000 sqm.
Belle Grande is one of the licensees
in the Pagcor City alongside the casino projects of Travellers International,
Bloomberry Resorts Corp. and Aruze Group of Japan. Belle Corp. owns the land
and the license for the casino and LRWC will lease the land from the former.
In terms of revenues in 2011, Ocier
said Pagcor’s own operations is P2.5 billion plus P1.2 billion, from other
operations like from ResortsWorld and PhilWeb. Meanwhile, last month, Pagcor
made about P3 billion. “If you annualize it, it will be a total of P36
billion,” he said.
For gaming revenues in 2016, Ocier
noted that Pagcor will be able to reach $3 billion gaming revenues on the back
of the four licensees in Pagcor City plus other operations, gaining 8 to 10
percent of market share from Macau market, and this is an increase from 2011’s
$1.2 billion, noting that ResortsWorld was able to double revenues from $600
million in just three years.
For the opening of Belle Grande, Gana
said the start of operations for the casino and the hotels will be sometime
next year with “delay due to new guidelines released by Pagcor in July 2011.”
“We were hoping a soft opening this
year until Pagcor released new guidelines in 2011 to have 800 hotel rooms and
250,000 sqm requirement,” he said, noting that the structure is almost complete
and they are currently doing the podium and the six hotels with their main
concerns are to do things right and operate successfully.
Meanwhile, the company chairman said
the casino may have the grand opening by second half of 2013.
For the NAIA-Pagcor City connector
expressway, Ocier said it is not yet thoroughly approved but the project will
cost about P15 billion. “Pagcor will put in P6 billion to P6.5 billion from the
four licensees while the rest of amount will be bidded out, which will be
announced by the Office of the President,” he said, adding that the P6 billion
to P6.5 billion will be part of the $1 billion budget for resort complex development
of each licensee. The proponents of the connector road are DPWH and APP which
will still be approved by Neda and Office of President.
For Highlands Prime, Belle Corp. plans
on expanding the Japanese-inspired community of Yume and Asian-contemporary-themed
Sycamore Heights in Lakeside Fairways. The company also plans to bring the
number of 18-hole international championship golf courses in Tagaytay Highlands
to a total of three.
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