Ayala seals Valenzuela land deal

Ayala Land Inc. and the Gatchalian family have finalized a deal to develop 17 hectares of the latter’s “Plastic City” estate in Valenzuela City, envisioned to be redeveloped into a mixed-use urban complex in northern Metro Manila. PHOTO FROM WELLEX.COM.PH

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. and the Gatchalian family have finalized a deal to develop 17 hectares of the latter’s “Plastic City” estate

in Valenzuela City, envisioned to be redeveloped into a mixed-use urban complex in northern Metro Manila.

Philippine Estates Corp. (PHES), the Gatchalians’ property development arm, disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday the signing of an agreement with ALI’s Avida Land to develop the company’s properties in Valenzuela.

This deal comes about a week after the signing by PHES of a memorandum of agreement with ALI’s low-cost residential unit, Amaia Land, to likewise develop the former’s property in Cavite into a residential or subdivision project.

PHES is one of the owners of the property that Avida proposes to develop in Valenzuela. “The agreement signed is an initial step to move forward planning and developing the area,” a spokesperson from ALI said.

The 17 hectares covered by the deal is part of the Gatchalian family’s 60-hectare former plastics manufacturing hub, but ALI president Antonino Aquino said the Ayala-controlled real estate firm was interested to develop the entire area under a mixed-use masterplan.

But Aquino said the plan would be to pursue the development in parcels.

The Gatchalian’s Plastic City Industrial Corp. (PCIC) has long ceased its plastics manufacturing and commercial operations due to continued losses, but its subsidiaries have leased out its warehouse and building facilities in the estate.

ALI had been in talks with the Gatchalians for over a year for the development of the property in Valenzuela, which has a lot of spending power especially because it has a number of large industrial manufacturers as locators.

Through these property deals with the Ayala group, the Gatchalian family, for its part, seeks to unlock more values from its real estate assets, taking advantage of the robust property market in the country.

It was earlier reported that the redevelopment planned by the Gatchalians for Plastic City would include an educational complex envisioned to be a smaller version of the UP technohub in Quezon City. It also aims to build office space that will attract business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, banking on expectations that more and more BPO locators will move outside the main central business districts in search of other hubs around Metro Manila.

Part of the proposed master plan is likewise to put up a new hospital to serve Valenzuela City. The residential portion is envisioned to offer townhouses and condominiums for different market segments.