Eton Properties adding 2 buildings at Centris project

Eton Properties Philippines Inc., the real estate arm of tycoon Lucio Tan, is building two new office buildings at its mixed-use Eton Centris complex in Quezon City to cater to robust demand from business process outsourcing (BPO) firms.

The two buildings, which will be completed next year, are part of the Eton Cyberpod Centris office hub in the 12-hectare Eton Centris, which is being master-planned to be a self-contained, fully integrated community integrating live-work-play concepts at the corner of Edsa and Quezon Avenue.

In a briefing Monday night, Eton president Danilo Ignacio said each of the buildings would have 20 stories and 42,000 square meters of office space. These will add to two existing and fully leased out office buildings at the Eton Centris complex.

Ignacio said the construction of more buildings would be to take advantage of the window of opportunity for new office buildings—during which demand outstrips supply—which he projected would be open through 2012.

“The third and fourth Cyberpod Centris buildings are at the design stage and are scheduled to be completed by end of 2012. Given the strong demand for office space, the buildings are expected to be pre-leased even before turnover,” Ignacio said.

Office space is the company’s strongest contributor to recurring income as it continues to develop its property portfolio.

Under the original master plan, a total of seven BPO buildings will rise at the Eton Centris. But Ignacio said: “If the market for office space continues to be strong, we are considering some adjustments in the Eton Centris master plan to accommodate future demand for office space. There is a marked increase in demand for office space in the northern part of Metro Manila, given the outsourcing industry’s thrust to tap the manpower pool in the area.”

The strong demand for office space from BPOs was also making prices very attractive for big property developers, Ignacio said. In Quezon City, he said the price of office rental space had gone up to P500 a square meter a month compared with the range of P250-P300 two to three years ago.

The first building, the 13-story One Cyberpod Centris, has been fully leased out to successful BPO tenants such as Wipro Technologies, Genpact Services LLC, Unisys Philippines Ltd., Integrim BPO Solutions and Pascual Laboratories, among others. The entire 18,063-sqm-office space in Two Cyberpod Centris, the second building set for completion by year’s end, has been fully leased to a Fortune 500 company.

Apart from Cyberpod Centris, Eton also developed Cyberpod Corinthian in Ortigas Center where a cluster of three fully leased four-story BPO buildings with a total space of 25,589 sqm are now operating. Eton Cyberpod Corinthian currently houses BPO firms Startek and Northgate Arinso.

The year “2011 will be a very good year for Eton Properties given the strong demand from all segments of the residential market and the rising demand for office space. We expect to exceed our 2010 net income this year,” Ignacio said.