ALI investing P5B in Cagayan de Oro project

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is expanding its foothold in Mindanao with a P5-billion investment in a mixed-use property project envisioned to be like a “mini-Glorietta” (its mall in Makati City) at Cagayan de Oro’s city center.

In a briefing Tuesday, ALI president Antonino Aquino said the 3.7-hectare project called “Centrio” was a joint-venture project with the Floirendo family’s Anflogroup. The project is seen to benefit from the “game-changing” construction of the new Languindingan airport, robust commerce and agro industry and the strong tourism potential of the northern Mindanao region, he said.

“We’re seizing that opportunity. We’re doing retail, office, hotel and residential (component) in CDO in one major move,” Aquino said.

Aquino said this was reflective of ALI’s thrust to make an unprecedented expansion in new geographical areas and markets.

The Visayas-Mindanao region currently accounts for only 7-10 percent of ALI’s business, according to ALI senior vice president Emilio Tumbocon. But in the next 10 to 15 years, Aquino said this share should surge to 25-30 percent and mirror the contribution of this region to the domestic economy.

Of the P5-billion capital spending for this project, the shopping mall component will cost about P3 billion while the remainder will go to residential (P800 million), hotel (P700 million) and business process outsourcing office (P200 million).

The project is situated right beside the provincial capitol and has not been affected by the recent flooding in CDO, Aquino said.

The Centrio mall will have 400 tenants and about 44,000 square meters of leasable space and will open by the fourth quarter of this year. It will be the first mall in CDO and will have ample open spaces and artfully designed indoor spaces, ALI officials said. For instance, Aquino said two old acacia trees were left untouched and were included in the landscaping.

The new business hotel under ALI’s homegrown “Kukun” brand will open at about the same time as the mall, offering about 150 guestrooms available for about P3,800 per night.—Doris C. Dumlao