Watch for the new booming ‘Bay Area’

SOME 10 odd years ago, only a handful knew where Macapagal Avenue was. And those who knew did not bother going there even for a look-and-see treat, nor even to relish the fresh, balmy sea breeze coming from Manila Bay.

The reason was not for anything personally dreadful to them, but on account of the bad image that tarnished the eight-lane avenue of attendant graft during its construction.

Today the areas that now nestle on both sides along Macapagal Avenue in the once reclamation project in Pasay City have all the makings of a booming Bay Area.

First, there are four or five huge world-class resort-casino hotels in that reclaimed district that combine in turning the Mac-Ave district into an alive city 24 hours a day.

Also, another enviable plus-factor of locals who own offices and residences in the area is that NAIA is no more than 10 minutes away, cruising along the recently finished elevated highway.

Adding a spanking and glittering image to the new “Bay Area” appel- lation is a swanky mall and its multi-use sports arena, and a convention center that prides itself of its high-tech facilities. Not to mention the consular services (passport processing and release) of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Of course, the Cultural Center complex, with the huge Philippine International Convention Center, the Philtrade Center, the Senate of the Philippines are just nearby.

Today, there are several medium-rise buildings in the immediate periphery of Mac-Ave. The tenants are mostly IT companies servicing some global entities engaged in on-line services.

Amidst these mushrooming business establishments is one conglomerate that saw the potential of this emerging “Bay Area” a decade ago – the Golden Bay Properties, Inc.

In 2008, it opened the Golden Bay Fresh Seafood restaurant on MacAve. housed in a two-story building. It has now become Metro-Manila’s muchsought-after dining establishment, with luxurious amenities and the finest of modern Chinese cuisine that are served in top-of-the-line dining wares, dished out by a superb service.

Last Wednesday, I attended the press launching of ASPIRE Corporate Plaza, the first project of Golden Bay Properties in real estate development. It will be an 11-story (with one basement) edifice designed along 21st century concepts that one sees in developed countries.

ASPIRE will be ensconced in a 3,500 square-meter lot area, just behind the revered seafood dining address.

There will be a total of eight stories for office spaces, with 74 prime office units and two prime commercial units, for sale. An attraction is “a garden in the sky” measuring over 300 square meters. There will be 261 parking slots.

On matters of vertical transport of ASPIRE: Six high-speed passengers elevators; one service lift (each of 21person capacity); and one parking lift.

“It is our desire to offer our fellow Filipino-Chinese businessmen, especially in the Binondo area, the opportunity to own their space rather than just leasing it,”says Jardin Wong, the young chief operating officer of Golden Bay Properties.

“After our recent ground-breaking rites, we also realized that there are many other entrepreneurs, not just Filipino-Chinese, who are also looking for office spaces that they can call their own, ”adds the brains behind ASPIRE Corporate Plaza.

Indeed, space ownership is a wiser move.