PROPERTY giant Ayala Land Inc. seeks to diversify its revenue stream by going into the pocket development of community-based shopping malls that are much smaller than Greenbelt or Glorietta.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, ALI deputy compliance officer Alfonso Javier Reyes said the company?s board of directors has approved the incorporation and capitalization of a wholly owned subsidiary?Primavera Town Centre Inc.?which will roll out five new shopping centers by next year.
The new entity will handle the planning, development and management of small-format retail facilities known as ?neighborhood centers? within the company?s existing and planned growth centers across the country, Reyes said.
?This is in line with the company?s growth strategy to expand its market and geographic reach to serve broader economic segments in more areas across the country,? Reyes explained.
These niche retail hubs or neighborhood centers are intended to offer a convenient shopping and lifestyle experience to the immediate mixed-use communities in various growth centers. The first among Ayala?s nationwide chain of neighborhood shopping centers will rise in Makati, Bonifacio Global City, Nuvali and other potential growth centers in and around Luzon.
ALI envisions these neighborhood shopping centers to have a maximum size of 10,000 square meters of gross leasable area?about a fifth of the provincial malls being built by the country?s biggest mall developer, SM Prime Holdings Inc.
The property blue chip intends to put in P320 million in seed capital to Primavera Town Centre to fund the development of five new neighborhood centers in 2010, with another three to six to be added to the portfolio in each of the succeeding four years.
In the first nine months of this year, ALI?s revenues from shopping centers rose 3 percent to P3.32 billion on the back of higher occupancy rates at Greenbelt 5 and Market! Market! The growth was attained despite the Ayala Center redevelopment-related closure in Glorietta 1 as well as the start-up operations of MarQue Mall in Angeles, Pampanga, which opened in end-September.
