Ayala to open 7 malls worth P16B this yr

AYALA Land Inc. (ALI), is set to open seven new malls this year with a total project cost of P16 billion in a bid to reach its 2020 target of 3 million square meters of leasable space.

Rowena Tomeldan, head of the Ayala Malls group, said in an email that the seven malls scheduled to open this year will add a total of 225,000 square meters of gross leasable area (GLA) to the company’s mall portfolio.

One of the seven malls is the P2.5-billion Ayala Malls The 30th in Pasig City, which opened earlier this month. The new mall adds 27,000 sqm of retail space to their mall portfolio.

The other six malls are the 40,000- sqm Ayala Malls in the Vertis North estate in Quezon City, to be opened in April; the 39,000- sqm Ayala Malls in the Cloverleaf estate in Balintawak, to open in October; the 13,000sqm Ayala Malls in Marikina Heights; the 79,000- sqm Ayala Malls Feliz along Marcos Highway also in Marikina; the 21,000- sqm One Bonifacio High Street in Taguig, set to open by the end of the year; and the 6,000- sqm Ayala Malls Southvale in Alabang.

Ayala Malls Feliz is the company’s largest mall to be opened this year while One Bonifacio is part of a mixed- use development.

“Except for One Bonifacio which is an FBDC (Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation) project, the total cost of these projects amounts to about P16 billion disbursed for a period of one to three years,” Tomeldan said.

FBDC is a joint venture between ALI and Evergreen Holdings of the Campos family.

“By 2020, we will hit over 3 million square meters in leasable area. That’s why we’re growing quite fast,” Tomeldan said.

ALI currently has a little less than 2 million sqm of leasable space in its retail portfolio, she said.

Tomeldan earlier disclosed that they also have a number of mall openings scheduled for 2018. These include a portion of the Ayala Malls Bay Area in Paranaque City and Ayala Malls Capitol Central in Bacolod City.

“The timetable of the others are still fluid. But those are the two, the large ones, that are set to open in 2018,” she said.

“We also have in Cebu at the Techno Park. I just don’t have the exact name of the development. But we also have in Cebu, that’s also 2018,” she added.

Tomeldan said the company continues to look at growth centers across the country as prospective areas for mall developments.