From racetrack to entertainment center: Ali unveils P20-B project

Philippine Star - Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), which first made its name by building the Makati central business district (CBD), is spending P20 billion for an entertainment center in the country’s financial capital.

The 21-hectare Circuit Makati, formerly the Sta. Ana racetrack, will complete ALI’s mixed-use offerings in Makati amid the development of new business districts, the company’s top official said.

“We will be able to provide a very critical element that will be completing the story of Makati,” ALI president Antonino T. Aquino said in a briefing.

“Circuit is ALI’s 21-hectare integrated, mixed-use development anchored on entertainment experiences that brings together ALI’s various product lines — Alveo for residential, Ayala Malls and offices, and Ayala Hotels,” Aquino said.

Circuit Makati forms part of ALI’s P60-billion investment for six districts under its redevelopment program to maintain the competitiveness of the Makati CBD.

“The Circuit will be the entertainment center of Makati,” Aquino said, adding that it will be a dynamic urban hub in five years’ time.

Components of Circuit Makati are residential towers, office space, a shopping mall, a performing arts theater, events ground with a football field, and a lifestyle hotel.

Aquino said the property giant will start most of the project’s components in the next two years.

By 2016, around 80-90 percent of the property will be utilized for permanent or interim use that includes parking lots and pop-up food trucks, said Meann Dy, group head for ALI’s Strategic Landbank Management Group.

Specifically, the Circuit theater will have a capacity of 1,500 seats while the 600-meter Circuit Lane is an interactive walk with retail shops and restaurants.

Aquino said ALI will be introducing the “black box” concept that will be a venue for exhibits, music recitals, comedy shows, cocktail parties, product launches and workshops.

Circuit Makati will also have a two-hectare events ground for outdoor activities like football and skating.
ALI is already in talks with an international football club to put up a football school in the events ground, Aquino said.

For the commercial segment, ALI will build a mall with 45,000 square meters (sqm.) of gross leasing area (GLA) and an office space with 30,000 sqm. of GLA.

ALI will spend P1.5-2 billion for a 250-room lifestyle hotel that will carry the Seda brand.

ALI will also launch an Alveo residential tower next month, said Alveo Land president Robert Lao.

“The investment per tower is P2.5 billion,” Lao said, adding that the first condominium building will have 400-450 units in 40 storys.

The development of Circuit Makati will be spread out to 15-20 years, Aquino said.

For instance, there is a plan to have a total GLA of 100,000 sqm. for office space that will cater to the outsourcing sector, said Cora Dizon, head of ALI’s Commercial Business Development and Strategic Planning Group.

For the residential segment, ALI is looking at launching one tower per year to reach 8-10 towers in the next 10 years, Lao said.

While other conglomerates like JG Summit Holdings Inc. and SM Investment Corp. have joined the fray in the gaming segment particularly for casinos, ALI is focusing in its core business.

“There is no plan of gaming in this area. It will be more of family entertainment concepts,” Aquino said.
“On our side, we can sustain the high growth trajectory with the type of business we are currently in right now,” Aquino said.

In the nine months to September, ALI’s earnings reached P6.62 billion, up 27 percent from P5.23 billion a year ago on the back of the strong performance in all its business lines.

For latest update on real estate development and its RA 9646, the Real Estate Service Act of 2009, visit www.ra9646.com.ph.

ALI unit to build 4,000 hotel rooms in 2 yrs

The hotels and resorts arm of property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) plans to grow its portfolio to as much as 4,000 rooms nationwide in the next two years.

This will allow Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corp. to be a substantial contributor to the income of ALI, an executive said.

“We target 3,000 rooms within two years. We will be at that level of 3,000 to 4,000 rooms under planning or open already,” said Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts president Junie H. Jalandoni.

So far, the tourism and hospitality company has launched five hotels under the company-owned Seda brand.

The Seda urban lifestyle hotel in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig has 179 rooms while the 170-room hotel in Abreeza, Davao and another one in Nuvali, Laguna are scheduled to begin commercial operations in the first and fourth quarters this year, respectively.

The Seda Centrio Cagayan de Oro, on the other hand, will offer late this year 150 rooms located within the Centrio ALI mixed-use development that includes offices and retail.

Late last week, the tourism and hospitality company announced that it will spend P1.5 billion to P2 billion for a 250-room Seda lifestyle hotel in Circuit Makati entertainment complex.

Benchmark investment for each hotel is P1.5 billion to P2 billion, Jalandoni said.

“We need that in the Philippines if we are trying to grow the tourism business,” Jalandoni said.

The government, through the Department of Tourism, targets 10 million foreign tourists by 2016.

“The government is very helpful right now. They are promoting tourism,” Jalandoni said.

So far, the hotel portfolio of Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts include Intercontinental Manila, Cebu Marriott, El Nido Resorts, Raffles and Fairmont Makati and Seda Hotels.

The company will also introduce the Holiday Inns and Suites brand, Jalandoni said.

Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts wants a larger income contribution to ALI, which is also into shopping malls, office rental, residential development.

“We hope to contribute meaningfully to the whole portfolio,” Jalandoni said.

In the nine months to September, ALI’s earnings reached P6.62 billion, up 27 percent from P5.23 billion a year ago on the back of the strong performance in all its business lines.

For latest update on real estate development and its RA 9646, the Real Estate Service Act of 2009, visit www.ra9646.com.ph.

Ayala Land growing resort portfolio

Businessworld (January 13, 2013) – A UNIT of Ayala Land, Inc. plans develop more resorts as part of a target to offer as many as 4,000 rooms in two years, a top company official said late last week.

“We have other resort developments being planned and, at some point within this year, we will disclose more details on these,” Jose Emmanuel H. Jalandoni, president of AyalaLand Hotels and Resorts Corp., said in an interview last Friday on the sidelines of a briefing at Raffles Makati when asked about the unit’s expansion plans this year.

When asked for the locations of the planned new resorts, Mr. Jalandoni replied: “They will be all over: Mindanao, Luzon, Visayas.”

“We continue to grow this business because we believe in the tourism potential of the country,” Mr. Jalandoni said.

“The government is pushing tourism, but at the same time we find there is a need for more products to be out in the market.”

Ayala Land is a property company that is involved largely in residential and commercial developments. But it has also ventured into hotels and leisure-type projects via AyalaLand Hotels and Resorts.

So far, the Ayala Land unit has developed El Nido Resorts, an island resort complex in El Nido, Palawan, consisting of the Lagen, Milinoc, Apulit and Pangulasian Island Resorts.

“We have just opened Pangulasian. We soft-opened in last quarter of 2012,” Mr. Jalandoni said.

“It’s doing quite well, and we’re very happy with the development and the guests are very happy too.”

In November last year, Ayala Land President Antonino T. Aquino told reporters that Ayala Land is keen on acquiring as much as 1,000 square meters of beach and island properties in the Visayas in the next few years in order to expand the company’s growing tourism and leisure development portfolio, but he did not cite details.

Ayala Land also plans to open more hotels this year. “After CdO (Cagayan de Oro City), we’ll open Seda Davao in February, and then after that, Holiday Inn will open this March,” Mr. Jalandoni said.

Seda, formerly Kukun, is Ayala Land’s wholly owned boutique hotel brand. After launching Seda Bonifacio Global City last month, AyalaLand Hotels and Resorts said it planned to open Seda hotels in CdO, Davao, and Laguna from the end of 2012 to next year.

The 349-room Holiday Inn and Suites Makati in Ayala Center, meanwhile, is part of Ayala Land’s ongoing five-year redevelopment of Ayala Center in a bid to transform the five-hectare district into an integrated, mixed-use complex.

Ayala Land now targets to end 2015 with as many as 4,000 rooms in order to cash in on the country’s tourism potentials.

“We’re aiming for 3,000 to 4,000 units (rooms) in the next two years.

This is for both hotels and resorts. Some of this we’re still planning, and we haven’t announced all,” Mr. Jalandoni told reporters separately last Friday.

“Our biggest challenge is access to properties and infrastructure, but it’s good that the government is very supportive in these areas,” Mr. Jalandoni added. “We’re bullish because of the economy, and the government is very helpful right now in promoting tourism…”


Ayala Land shares lost 75 centavos to P25.85 apiece on Friday last week.

For latest update on real estate development and its RA 9646, the Real Estate Service Act of 2009, visit www.ra9646.com.ph.