Tycoon Andrew Tan-led property developer Megaworld Corp. has earmarked P65 billion for capital spending this year, mostly for its township developments across the country.
“We are ramping up our residential properties in our portfolio this year as we have seen a remarkable spike in residential demand across our townships, both in Metro Manila and in the provinces. Likewise, we remain focused on cementing our leadership in the office category by launching more office spaces, and we are looking into opening more lifestyle malls as we keep track of our goal toward P20 billion in rental revenues by next year,” Megaworld executive vice president and chief strategy officer Kevin Tan said in a press statement on Tuesday.
About 80 percent of the capital spending budget will be for property developments across the company’s 23 townships, while the remaining 20 percent will fund land acquisitions and investment properties.
Megaworld plans to launch 28 new residential towers this year in its townships in key regional centers, particularly in The Mactan Newtown in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu; The Upper East in Bacolod; Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao, Iloilo; Capital Town in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga; Maple Grove in General Trias, Cavite; Southwoods City in Biñan, Laguna; Boracay Newcoast in Boracay Island, Aklan; Twin Lakes in Batangas near Tagaytay; and Eastland Heights in Antipolo, Rizal.
Megaworld is also expected to start the construction of five new office projects and complete some ongoing mall and commercial properties. Five new office towers are slated to rise in Uptown Bonifacio, Capital Town in San Fernando, Pampanga, and Westside City in Parañaque City, covering around 116,000 square meters in gross leasable spaces.
Five new office towers are expected to be completed within the year in Uptown Bonifacio, Iloilo Business Park, Arcovia City and Pampanga, with total gross leasable area of around 189,000 sqm.
Five commercial properties, on the other hand, are expected to be completed within the year in McKinley Hill in Fort Bonifacio, Arcovia City in Pasig City, and Davao Park District in Davao City.
These will give an additional 9,000 sqm of gross leasable spaces in its commercial retail portfolio.
“On our rental portfolio, we are allocating most of our capex (capital expenditure) in the completion of new office and lifestyle mall developments across our townships,” Tan added.
By the end of this year, Megaworld expects leasable properties to reach 2.14 million sqm, 60 percent of which will consist of office space. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA