New Ayala mall, hotel planned

MANILA, Philippines—Property giant Ayala Land Inc. plans to build a new shopping mall and hotel complex at the Aseana City complex adjacent to Pagcor Entertainment City, riding on the vast tourism potential of the future Las Vegas-style gaming strip along Manila Bay.

Industry sources said ALI was close to hatching a deal to lease a portion of the 204-hectare Wenceslao estate for the planned mall and hotel complex.

The mall and hotel complex, according to sources, will be built across from the City of Dreams Manila, the integrated gaming estate of the Sy family-led Belle Corp. and Macau casino giant Melco Crown.

ALI president Bernard Vincent Dy said the project was still in the planning stage.

Separately, ALI is also set to manage a 5,000-square-meter shopping complex at Bloomberry Resort Corp.’s $1.2-billion Solaire Resort & Casino complex.

“We are ecstatic that Ayala Land will be building a mall and hotel right across from the City of Dreams. It adds to the clustering effect of mixed-use resorts in Entertainment City,” said Belle vice chair Willy Ocier.

The Philippines is seen shaping up as the next VIP (very important person) gaming destination in Asia as new integrated resorts rise at Pagcor City, where gross gaming revenues are seen doubling to at least $3.5 billion by 2016 from last year’s level.