RLC to open at least 3 new malls in 2015

Gokongwei-led Robinsons Land Corp. is expanding its shopping mall portfolio with the opening of at least three new malls and the expansion of at least two existing malls in 2015.

Since its new fiscal year started in October 2013, RLC has opened five new shopping malls and is set to open two more this coming September—one in Antipolo and another in Las Piñas.  This marks a total of seven new malls opening in a single fiscal year, a record for the company, RLC president Frederick Go said. This, Go said, was in line with RLC’s plan to breach the one million-square-meter mark in leasable area.

“For next year, we will be expanding (Robinsons) Novaliches and Robinsons San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte,” Go said.

The three new malls to be opened in 2015 are Robinsons Galleria Cebu, Robinsons Place Tagum in Davao del Norte and Robinsons Place Jaro in Iloilo, RLC general manager for commercial centers division Arlene Magtibay said an interview.

Robinsons Galleria Cebu will have a total gross floor area (GFA) of 105,000 sq m and a  gross leasable area (GLA) of 65,000 sq m, Magtibay said. Jaro will have a total GFA of 30,000 sq m and GLA of 18,000 sq m while Tagum will have a GFA of 50,000 sq m and GLA of 30,000 sq m.

Construction of the new mall in Cebu is ongoing while the expansion for Novaliches has already been awarded to a contractor, she said.  Detailed planning is ongoing for Tagum and Jaro, as well as the expansion in Ilocos Norte, she added.

In the meantime, RLC said it was scheduled to reopen by late April the mall in Tacloban,  which was devastated by Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” Magtibay said.

The expansion of the Ilocos Norte mall will add about 25,000 sq m in GFA and 15,000 sq m in GLA while Novaliches will have additional 10,000 sq m in GFA and 6,000 sq m in GLA.

At present, Go said RLC had a 95-percent occupancy rate for its mall portfolio. The bulk of RLC’s income comes from these shopping centers.

Go is excited about the opening of the new malls in Las Piñas and Antipolo.  “It’s not often that we have a (new) Metro Manila mall,” he said.

Robinsons Place Antipolo will have a GFA of 43,000 sq m and a GLA of 26,400 sq m.

The new mall in Las Piñas will have a GFA of 59,877 sq m. and a GLA of 25,734 square meters.

RLC’s top three best performing malls to date are all in Metro Manila: Robinsons Place Manila, Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas and Robinsons Magnolia.

Magtibay said RLC was building up its landbank outside Metro Manila, particularly in Northern and Southern Luzon as well as in the Visayas.

“We are very flexible. We can do community malls or regional shopping malls,” she said.