Megaworld transfers Eastwood concept to Mactan Island

8 NEWTON Boulevard: The first mixed-use condominium complex to rise in Mactan Newtown in Cebu.

CEBU CITY—A new “town” is rising on Mactan Island, Cebu.

Mactan Newtown, a commercial mixed-use complex on a 16-hectare property in Brgy. Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City, is the biggest project in the Visayas of giant property developer Megaworld Corp.

It will be home to luxury residential condominiums, BPO offices, retail shops, entertainment and leisure establishments, a wellness facility and a boutique hotel.

Noli D. Hernandez, Megaworld first vice president for sales and marketing, said in a a recent briefing here that the company intends to bring the Eastwood City experience to Mactan island, a major tourist destination that is known for its beaches and resorts.

Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City is considered the country’s first IT park and Megaworld’s first masterplanned township development, Megaworld said in a statement.

It features 17 high-rise residential towers, 10 office buildings and 65,000 square meters of retail space.

“We started the live-work-play concept with Eastwood,” said Hernandez, “We will duplicate what we have done in Libis and make it better here in Mactan.”

Megaworld is one of the country’s leading residential condominium developers and providers of business process outsourcing offices.

Aside from Eastwood, its projects include McKinley Hill in Taguig City and Newport City in Pasay City.

Development of Mactan Newtown has started.

A five-story BPO-ready building called One World Center was completed in May, said Virgilio Carsido Jr., Megaworld vice president Visayas operations.

Construction of another five-story BPO-ready building called Two World Center will start this month. Both buildings will have retail components.

The developer also made sure that pedestrian lanes are wide to encourage walking, said Carsido.

Hernandez also said that Megaworld will put up a terminal for public utility vehicles and is negotiating with the Lapu-Lapu city government for the widening of roads leading to Mactan Newtown.

Mactan Newtown will also host 8 Newtown Boulevard, which will house four residential towers with a total of 716 units. The company said construction started in January and it will be completed in three years.

Three of these towers have been blocked off for young Japanese retirees, said Maricor Manlangit, Megaworld first vice president strategic planning division.

She said the other tower with 180 units is allotted for the local market. Each unit, which have an average floor area of 40 to 50 square meters, will cost from P4 million to P5 million at P100,000 per sqm.

Megaworld also plans to put up another cluster of four condominium towers and a BPO building called One Pacific Residences.

She said the three towers will have a total of 537 units. Like the 8 Newtown Boulevard, Manlangit said two of these towers have been blocked off for the Japanese retirees while the other is for the local market.

At least P10 billion will be poured into the Mactan Newtown project, which will be completed in five years.

Megaworld expects to generate about 40,000 jobs for the 25,000 office and BPO seats that the developer will build inside the township.

It will also boost tourism in Lapu-Lapu as Megaworld intends to make Mactan Newtown the new destination on the island with its retail shops as well as entertainment and leisure amenities.

Megaworld bought the 16-hectare property near Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa in 1995 since at that time, Cebu was enjoying a boom in the real estate industry.

Development on the property was put on hold, however, due to the Asian economic crisis in 1997.

Hernandez said Megaworld started land development in 2007 and constructed its first BPO building.

He said Megaworld decided to resume development because a study on the Cebu market showed a boom in the real estate industry given the “good takeup of units,” said Manlangit.

“You can actually see that with all the condominium buildings being constructed here now and the number of independent developers getting into the market,” she said.

“Our entry here is a matter of timing and now is the best time to be doing something big here,” Hernandez said.