Megaworld building 5 luxury hotels on Mactan Island

By: Doris C. Dumlao - 11 years ago

Screengrab from www.megaworldcorp.com

MANILA, Philippines — Megaworld Corp. is placing a bigger bet on Cebu’s tourism industry with P8 billion in fresh investments to build five new luxury hotels on Mactan Island.

This capital outlay will increase Megaworld’s hotel portfolio by 2,000 rooms and will form part of the expansion of its 28.8-hectare mixed-use project, The Mactan Newtown, in Lapu Lapu City.

In a press statement on Thursday, Megaworld said the first two high-rise hotels – Mactan Belmont Luxury Hotel and the Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown – would rise on the township’s Newtown Boulevard within five years.

Soon to rise will be two beachfront hotels in the area which was formerly Portofino Beach Resort. The company said this area offered “relaxing views of the Hilutungan Channel and Olango Island, known for its bird sanctuaries and mangrove forests.” Another luxury hotel of international brand is also expected to rise in the township.

“With the influx of more tourists to Mactan Island year after year, we hope to be able to offer more exciting facilities that will help further boost tourism in the region. Aside from local tourists, we hope to cater to foreign guests and visitors to The Mactan Newtown as well,” said Carmen Fernando, managing director of Prestige Hotels and Resorts Inc., which is the operator of Mactan Belmont Luxury Hotel and Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown.

Megaworld is also constructing a three-level lifestyle mall, Plaza Magellan, which is envisioned to become a major landmark of The Mactan Newtown. The mall will have an iconic entrance plaza facing the Lapu Lapu Shrine, the site where the historic Battle of Mactan between Lapu Lapu and Ferdinand Magellan took place April 27, 1521.

The plaza’s main feature will be a life-sized replica of the Spanish galleon Victoria, the first vessel to circumnavigate the globe, and the Spanish Steps, which will lead visitors to the mall’s main entrance. The Victoria was the only one of Magelan’s five ships that survived the expedition and managed to return to spain, thus sailing around the globe.

Plaza Magellan will also feature a museum which will be dedicated to the life and expeditions of Magellan.

The mall’s design will be inspired by the hilltop towns of Portugal and Spain. The architecture will feature courtyards and arcaded walkways, ornately framed doors and windows as well as cupolas and towers.

“Plaza Magellan will be an iconic landmark not just for The Mactan Newtown, but also for the entire Central Visayas region, and the Philippines as a whole. We are already coordinating with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines on how we can integrate this landmark to Mactan Shrine. We are also committed to help the government in the rehabilitation and improvement of the historic national shrine,” said Noli Hernandez, president of Megaworld Cebu Properties Inc.

Likewise part of the masterplan is Hawkers’ Gazebo, a covered food strip similar to the famous hawkers of Singapore. This will be strategically located near the main entrance of the township.

Based on data from the Department of Tourism, Mactan Island attracted almost 900,000 tourists last year, 75 percent of whom had flown in from 63 countries.

“We envision The Mactan Newtown as a major tourism hub of Cebu. The township is designed to be tourist-friendly, and our various offerings will also cater to the needs of the visitors of the island,” Hernandez added.

Megaworld is allocating P30-billion to develop The Mactan Newtown in the next five to seven years.

On the residential segment, The Mactan Newtown has 10 luxury condominium towers in the pipeline: four towers for 8 Newtown Boulevard which is expected to be completed by the first half of 2015; three towers for One Pacific Residence; and three towers for One Manchester Place. All residential towers offer pre-furnished units with magnificent views of the Hilutungan Channel on the east and the historic Magellan Bay on the north.

On the office side, Megaworld has two existing office towers and will add at least five more office towers in the township by 2020. This is seen offering around 150,000 square meters of office spaces that can accommodate an estimated 45,000 workers in the information technology and business process outsourcing sector.

By 2016, Megaworld is also opening the Newtown School of Excellence, a state-of-the-art educational institution that will be supervised by the Lasallian Schools Supervision Office.