Another DoubleDragon mall to rise in Cebu

Property developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp. is building a second shopping mall in Cebu as part of its strategy to establish a chain of 100 shopping malls across the country by 2020.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, DoubleDragon said its subsidiary CityMall Commercial Centers Inc. (CMCCI) had signed a 30-year long-term lease agreement with Dunes and Eagle Land Development Corp. for a prime commercial lot along N. Bacalso Avenue, in downtown Cebu for the construction of a “Grand CityMall.”

Bacalso Avenue is a national road that connects both the whole northern and southern parts of Cebu.

The property secured by DoubleDragon is right between an existing mall and the Cebu South Bus Terminal, and a few meters away from the soon-to-rise Cebu City Medical Center Hospital. The site is within the vicinity of Colon in downtown Cebu area, a vibrant and heavily populated shopping and business district.

The site location is also right across Librando Transit Terminal and is surrounded by several transport terminals, schools, residential communities and government offices.

The project will be the second CityMall to be built in Cebu. Earlier, CMCCI acquired a 1.02-hectare property from Sta. Lucia Realty Development Inc. near the municipal hall and San Isidro Church.

The group plans to put up community malls through the “CityMall” brand in prime locations mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. The company envisions these malls to become the largest branded community mall chain in the Philippines.

CityMall is envisioned to become a household brand and become the preferred “everyday mall” of the future.

CMCCI is 66 percent owned by DoubleDragon and 34 percent owned by SM Investments Corp. Doris C. Dumlao