MANILA, Philippines – If you want to escape the extreme heat and catch glimpses of New York, Spain, France, and Italy in Metro Manila, the best place to cool off is Araneta City. 

Its P5-billion Gateway Mall 2 opened in mid-2023, and most of the shops in the eight-level mall are already open for business.

Like Midtown Manhattan in New York, Araneta City is a major transit hub. It’s the only commercial complex in Metro Manila that serves both the MRT-3 and LRT-2, and it also has a bus port with routes to various parts of Metro Manila as well as parts of Luzon island.

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Given its strategic location, Araneta City gets one million visitors every day (including repeat train commuters), many of whom now have a more comfortable way of moving from LRT-2 to MRT-3 via Gateway 1 and 2 Mall and Farmers Plaza and vice versa, if they enter during mall hours. 

“Medyo unique kami, para kaming Midtown Manhattan (We’re a bit unique, we’re like Midtown Manhattan),” Rowell Recinto, senior management consultant of Araneta City, told Rappler.

“There’s Madison Square Garden [in New York], we have Araneta Coliseum. Nandoon ‘yung Broadway, we have New Frontier [Theater]. They also have residential, may residential din kami. May office doon, may office din kami. Tapos, nandoon din ‘yung subway ng New York; meron din kaming MRT-3, LRT-2. So, parang in a sense, ‘yun ‘yung hinabol namin.”

(They have Madison Square Garden, we have Araneta Coliseum. They have a theater district, Broadway, we have New Frontier. They also have residential buildings, we too have residential. They have offices, we also have offices. And there’s a subway in New York. We also have MRT-3 and LRT-2. So, in a sense, that’s what we’re after.)  

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In line with its New York vibe, the Araneta Group and its developer for Araneta City’s residential buildings, billionaire Andrew Tan’s Megaworld Corporation, jointly agreed to call its transit-oriented residential development “Manhattan Garden City,” which includes condominiums Manhattan Parkway (3 towers), Manhattan Parkview (3 towers), Manhattan Heights (4 towers), and Manhattan Plaza (currently 2 towers). There’s also Times Square Avenue that starts from Manhattan Parkway/Manhattan Parkview that leads to Ali Mall, and occasionally, Times Square Food Park.

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Araneta City’s Sagrada Familia Chapel on top of Gateway Mall 2 was inspired by the Oculus, an architectural gem in New York, as well as the Pope’s Mitre hat.

The chapel’s name is taken from Spain’s famous tourist spot in Barcelona, Spain, the Basilica de Sagrada Familia designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. The all-white chapel can accommodate 1,000 people. 

The 20,000-seater Big Dome is also Araneta City’s Italian symbol. The Araneta Group’s founder, industrialist Don Amado Araneta, had been to Rome, Italy, where he saw the Colosseum and said he would build a modern one in the Philippines, according to his son, Jorge, now the group’s chairman and president who is overseeing the city’s redevelopment. Araneta Coliseum opened in 1960.

Through the years, Araneta Coliseum has been a popular venue for beauty pageants, concerts, and major sporting events, the last major one being a co-host of the FIBA World Cup 2023. It holds over 250 events yearly.

Filipino chef Margarita Araneta Fores, Asia’s Best Female Chef in 2016, is known for her Italian restaurant Cibo, which is located at the ground floor of Coliseum Plaza. Other restaurants in this area of Gateway Mall 2 are Manam, Nono’s, Tim Ho Wan, The Matcha Tokyo, Shake Shack, Salad Stop, which have extended mall hours.

Fores also has Filipino restaurant Grace Park in Gateway Mall 2’s Restaurant Collection which has a black-themed fountain at the center. Other food places in the atrium area are Abé, a mano, Botejyu, Che Buono, Mamou, Choi Garden, Mamou, Mango Tree Café, Starbucks, and UCC Park Café, among others.

Gateway Mall 1 has 10 cinemas, while Gateway Mall 2 has eight new cinemas, making it the Philippine mall with the most number of movie screens at 18. With only a few moviegoers watching in cinemas these days, it’s often very cold in Philippine theaters. 

Gateway Mall 2 also has The Quantum Skyview, an LED-powered ceiling that can show various digital spectacles. Araneta City says it’s the first of its kind in the Philippines. 

The 700-square-meter Quantum Skyview activity area has been used for many live events since 2023.

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After spending over P30 billion redeveloping Araneta Center, the Araneta Group dropped references to Cubao as its address and rebranded as Araneta City in 2019. SM Cubao, for instance, has been renamed SM Araneta City.

“Cubao was a gritty place before, e sa dami naman ng ginastos namin, inayos namin (we’ve spent so much, we fixed the) sanitation, security…. This isn’t your father’s Cubao anymore,” said Recinto.

Expected to open middle of the year is Filipino six-time world bowling champion Paeng Nepomuceno’s “Paeng Gateway Bowl” at level 3 of Gateway 2. 

Another unique space set to open is Pop District that will sell K-Pop and P-Pop merchandise. It will also have a café. 

For those who want a diverse offering of Filipino cuisine, they can go to Palenque Food Hall at the Upper Ground B, which serves Ilocano, Kapampangan, and southern Philippine food, plus Filipino deli. With the opening of renowned Filipino chef Claude Tayag’s Nasi by Bale Dutung, Palenque is now complete.

For those who prefer American food brands, there’s Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Kenny Roger’s Roasters. There’s also Wolfgang Steakhouse, one of the top steakhouses in New York City, at the upper ground near the Red Entrance to Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Another food court that will offer various international cuisine was still unfinished, as of posting. 

The whole Araneta City has over 10,000 parking slots, the biggest of which is its Parking Garage South with 1,500 beside Novotel Manila. 

Gateway 2 Mall has over 400 brands in fashion, technology, gaming, health and wellness, leisure and entertainment. 

With the partial opening of the French brand ibis Styles Hotel last month, the redevelopment of the Araneta family-owned commercial complex is substantially complete. Since there’s limited land left in its land bank, Recinto said any future redevelopment would involve tearing down old buildings such as Ali Mall, the Philippines’ first enclosed, fully air-conditioned, multi-level commercial mall, and the structure housing the Fiesta Carnival amusement center. – Rappler.com

French brand ibis Styles opens its first hotel in Philippines – with a Filipino touch 

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