Ayala Land to build ‘huge’ shopping mall in Parañaque

MANILA, Philippines – Ayala Land Incorporated confirmed Wednesday, April 29, that it plans to start developing a 9-hectare mixed use complex in Parañaque City late 2015 or early 2016.

The crown jewel of the development: a huge shopping mall that will be bigger than the Mall of Asia (MOA) complex. MOA is listed with 407,000 square meters in gross floor area.

It used to be the largest in the country until SM Prime Holdings Incorporated expanded SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, and is now the country’s biggest mall to date. 

The company is now finalizing the master plan for the 9-hectare parcel, Ayala Land president Bernard Vincent O. Dy said in an interview at the sidelines of the company’s P7 billion ($158.10 million) bond listing with the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corporation.

Dy, however, refused to provide the details of the project, including planned capital spending.

“It’s under planning right now so we don’t know the final budget at the moment,” Dy said.

The city government of Parañaque said in a statement on April 23 that it approved Ayala Land’s application for a locational clearance with the city’s local zoning board of adjustments and appeals. 

The application indicated its plan to build a huge mall complex, a business process outsourcing (BPO) center, and a 12-storey hotel with at least 325 rooms within a 9-hectare property adjacent to PAGCOR Entertainment City.

Ayala group earlier 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.

The entry of the Ayala group in Entertainment City effectively brings together all the country’s biggest property developers in the area, which already has two casino complexes in operation: The City of Dreams of the SM group and the Solaire Resorts and Casino of port mogul Enrique Razon.

The Bayshore City Resorts World of Travellers International Group, a joint venture between Filipino tycoon Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Incorporated and the Genting group of Malaysia, and Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada’s Manila Bay Resorts project.

Looking for properties

Dy said the company will continue to look for other properties of significant size.

Ayala Land bought bid documents for the 18.5-hectare prime property  known as “Payanig sa Pasig,” which is subject to bidding by the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the 33.1-hectare property in Bonifacio South in Taguig City.

Bonifacio South refers to the 33.1-hectare property, which the Supreme Court ruled should be subject to competitive challenge or Swiss challenge since the project was an unsolicited proposal of the SM group.

When asked if Ayala Land is interested in the controversial property, Dy said, “in general, we look at any parcels of significant size.” – Rappler.com