DoubleDragon Properties to build malls in Cotabato City, Dau

MANILA, Philippines — Property developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp. has found two more bustling locations to build on shopping malls under a nationwide chain under the CityMall brand: Cotabato City and Dau, Pampanga.

These two new property deals bring to 10 the sites secured by DoubleDragon’s shopping mall development arm CityMall Commercial Centers Inc. (CMCCI) so far, the company disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

“Dau Pampanga is targeted to be completed (by) fourth quarter 2015 and Cotabato is targeted to be completed by third quarter 2015,” DoubleDragon chair Edgar Sia II said in a text message. He said these were “part of the total of 25 operational CityMalls targeted to all be up and running by end of 2015 around the country and mostly in Visayas and Mindanao.”

“We make sure all the CityMall sites that we get are all in prime and strategic locations for long-term sustainability. We are glad that our vision for CityMall is slowly taking shape,” Sia added.

The first prime lot acquired by DoubleDragon is a 1.5-hectare property along Gov. Gutierrez Avenue in Rosary Heights VII in Cotabato City which is near the Lebak Terminal and the New City Hall dubbed as “People’s Palace.” It is located in a high-density area, encircled by numerous residential villages and schools.

This upcoming mall is near the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center and Notre Dame Hospital. The site location is also a few meters away from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) regional office, which houses a multiple of government offices.

“The company believes that this additional investment in Cotabato City is expected to provide substantial additional decent employment to the local workforce of the city,” the disclosure said, adding that this city was Central Mindanao’s center for economic support activities, trade and finance, education and other support services such as social, physical, cultural and other basic services.

For several years, there are two Jollibee stores and one Mang Inasal store operating in Cotabato City. These two fastfood chains were respectively founded by the duo behind DoubleDragon: Tony Tan Caktiong and Edgar Sia II.

Cotabato City was described as one of the most economically prosperous cities in Mindanao and among the country’s top 50 “most competitive” cities.

Meanwhile, CMCCI also acquired through a 30-year lease agreement a 0.5-hectare lot along Dau Access Road in Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga. This is located right beside the Dau Bus Terminal, which caters to passengers bound for Metro Manila and provinces in North Luzon such as, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Nueva Ecija, La Union, Bataan and Zambales. The terminal receives an average of 200 buses a day. The site is also a few meters away from the Dau-San Fernando jeepney terminal.

Dau, the largest town of Mabalacat City, is a business center, home to business establishments mostly involved in sash factory, iron works, ceramics, bakery and numerous trading companies. It used to be the terminus of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and is the most urban and most populous area in Mabalacat City. A number of major road networks including the North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, and MacArthur Highway cut across the area.

DoubleDragon plans to build one million square meters of total leasable spaces inventory by 2020 from the 100 CityMall community malls and other commercial and office developments envisioned by then.

The country’s largest retailer and shopping mall operator, SM Investments Corp., has a 34-percent stake in CMCCI.