DoubleDragon sees Divisoria mall foot traffic boost from railway

MANILA  -DoubleDragon Corp., the property venture of tycoons Edgar “Injap” Sia II and Tony Tan Caktiong, expects customer foot traffic in its Dragon8 Mall in Divisoria to triple to 200,000 after the anticipated completion of the Malolos-Tutuban railway project next year.

The figure was based on the target capacity of the 38-kilometer train project, which would cut travel time between Bulacan and Manila to about 35 minutes.

“The upcoming completion of the initial 38-km Malolos-Tutuban rail project, to be followed by the completion of the whole 163 km [North South Commuter] urban rail transit project is expected to become a major catalyst in further livening up the economic activity in Divisoria Manila area,” DoubleDragon said.

The six-story Dragon8 Mall is located at the corner location of Recto Ave. and Dagupan streets, at the heart and busiest main center of Divisoria.“The customer volume in [DoubleDragon’s] portfolio is expected to further increase in the coming weeks as the holiday rush continues to build up,” the developer said in a stock exchange filing on Monday.

Going global

Thus far, DoubleDragon has reached total assets of P163 billion and has completed 1.3-million square meters of gross floor area.

It is also going global via its Hotel101 condotel group, which earlier secured sites in downtown Los Angeles in the United States, Madrid in Spain and Niseko in Japan.

“DoubleDragon’s nationwide Philippine portfolio of titled hard asset footprint strategically located in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao is expected to fully mature by 2025 and expected to exceed over P250-billion asset value by 2030 (excluding DoubleDragon’s overseas asset portfolio),” the developer said on Monday.