IEC Convention Center of Cebu seats 10,000
FORMERLY referred to as the International Eucharistic Congress Pavilion, the local developer that built and financed the P500-million structure has modified its name to IEC Convention Center of Cebu or IC3.
Duros Land Properties Inc., in a press conference yesterday, said the IC3 is now the largest trade and convention center in the Visayas and Mindanao, with a seating capacity of over 10,000. The IC3, which is one of the four components of the nownamed 23 Minore Park or the former St. John XXII Minore Seminary, was unveiled and blessed yesterday.
After the success of the 51st International Eucharitic Congress in January, Duros Land said the facility is now transformed as a full-fledged convention center for conventions, concerts, trade exhibitions and conferences. The biggest event hosted recently was the Cebu concert of British-Norwegian boy group A1.
Lydwena Eco, 23 Minore Park project manager, acknowledged Cebu’s limited venues for large gatherings. With IC3, she said international organizers will have more reasons to hold huge events in Cebu.
The Duros Land official said IC3 will be subdivided into three halls that can accommodate from a thousand to 3,500 people each. The second level of the structure can also cater to weddings and medium-scale conferences that can seat around 500 guests.
Recently, the facility was also the venue of some BPO companies’ Christmas parties.
Aside from the IC3, the 23 Minore Park will host Landers Superstore, which is slated to open in the second quarter of 2017, a 250-room hotel that is eyed to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2018, and its central park amenity where a chapel stands.
Eco shared that there were a number of inquiries of a condominium project inside 23 Minore Park, but she clarified that building a residential development is not feasible since the property is owned by the Archdiocese of Cebu.
Instead, a hotel will be built. Eco said they have not yet finalized who will manage it. There are two hotel operators that have proposed to run the hotel, she added, but Duros Land is also “exploring other options.”
Duros Land, according to Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, is running the operations so they could recover their investment in the construction of the IEC Pavillion.
“This is totally ours (Archdiocese of Cebu), but in terms of operations, we asked the help of other people (Duros Land). To put it plainly, they built the convention center and turned it over to us. In the mean time, they can use the piece of land in 25 years,” Palma said.