Megaworld sets new P35-B Pasig township

Property developer Megaworld Corp. on Tuesday unveiled a plan that will attempt to duplicate its successful Eastwood City project at a newly acquired location just a stone’s throw from its first township project.

In a press briefing, officials disclosed that the publicly listed firm would invest up to P35 billion to build its new Woodside City development, which will rise on the former Ajinomoto property along C-5 road in Pasig City.

The proposed township will have a land area of 12.3 hectares, approximating the original 13-hectare size of Eastwood City when it was first built in the 1990s. Woodside City will be located 3.2 kilometers down the same road from Megaworld’s flagship project.

Officials said the P35-billion investment plan would be spent over a 10-year period, starting with two office towers, the first of which would be launched early next year and completed by 2017.

“As a pioneer of the live-work-play concept in the Philippines, we have already mastered the development of townships,” Megaworld first vice president Jericho Go said in the briefing. “Megaworld is continuously looking for opportunities to expand its township portfolio across the country in the next five years.”

Official said they envisioned Woodside City to be an environment-friendly mixed-use development.

A main “green” feature of the township would be the approximately 1,000 trees that will be planted around the development. This greening feature would help provide an outdoor thermal comfort for the future residents, workers, tenants and visitors of the township, Go explained.

The company’s plans also call for the office buildings in the township to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-registered. Among the first to rise are three sustainable office towers. The first two towers, which will be located along the

C-5 entrance of the township, will be designed by architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

Other features of Woodside City include a catchment facility that will use rainwater and greywater for flushing and landscape irrigation, a network of bicycle lanes inside the township and wide tree-lined sidewalks.

Aside from office towers, the township will also feature residential condominiums, a lifestyle mall, retail and commercial strips, open parks and a transport hub.

“The very concept of a township is to reduce and minimize the carbon footprint of the community. In our communities, one wouldn’t need hours to commute to go to work, home, watch movies or do the grocery,” Go said. “Everything is within walking distance.”