By Jenniffer B. Austria | Apr. 04,
2014 at 12:01am [ manilastandardtoday.com ]
Cosco Capital Inc., the holding
company of tycoon Lucio Co, plans to build eight new community malls within the
next three years, despite the intense competition in the domestic retail
industry.
Cosco president Leonardo Dayao said in
an interview the company planned to put up six to eight community malls over
the next two to three years.
“We are committed to build six to
eight community malls over the next two to three years. We are looking for
locations where we will construct our community malls,” Dayao told reporters at
the sidelines of the Puregold Price Club analyst briefing.
He said Cosco was looking at northern
and southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao as possible locations for the planned
community malls.
Dayao, when asked to comment on the
entry of DoubleDragon Properties Inc. in the retail industry, said there was
enough room for other retail players in the domestic retail market.
“The market is big enough. It [the
entry of DoubleDragon Properties] will be healthy for the economy and for the
industry,” he said.
DoubleDragon Properties Inc., a
property company owned equally by Jollibee Foods Corp. chairman Tony Tan
Caktiong and businessman Edgar Sia II, plans to build 100 community malls over
the next five years.
DoubleDragon recently completed the
acquisition of 12,645 square meters of commercial land along Arnaldo Boulevard
in Roxas City, which will be the site of the first community mall called
CityMall.
Cosco acquired Nueva Ecija-based
shopping center NE Pacific Mall, which is partially owned by infrastructure
conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Landco Pacific Inc. last
month.
NE Pacific Mall is presently the
largest commercial mall in Cabanatuan City, with a gross floor area of over
35,000 square meters on a 10-hectare lot.
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