Megaworld boosts capex outlay for Iloilo to P35B

Property developer Megaworld Corp. has increased its investment commitment to the 72-hectare Iloilo Business Park to P35 billion for the next 10 years, making this township the group’s single biggest project outside Metro Manila.

“We are committed to make the Iloilo Business Park the largest, most exciting business and tourism district in Western Visayas,” Megaworld first vice president Jericho Go said Thursday in a statement.

Megaworld earlier committed to invest around P25 billion in Iloilo Business Park for the next 10 years.

The higher investment commitment follows the company’s expansion of the township located at the site of the old Iloilo airport in Mandurriao district, from 54 hectares to 72 hectares last May.

“We have exciting plans for the additional 18 hectares that we have acquired. A unique leisure, commercial and residential development concept will soon be introduced to the Ilonggo market,” Go said.

“Expect brand-new components for the residential and commercial markets coming soon in Iloilo Business Park as we envision it to be a premier, world-class model of a mixed-use business, tourism, commercial and residential hub for Region 6,” he added.

The company led by taipan Andrew Tan recently announced the construction of a P1.5-billion Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, the second hotel brand to rise in the township.

The first hotel, Richmonde Hotel Iloilo, is expected to start operations by early 2015.

Both hotels, which will be linked to the proposed Iloilo Convention Center, will offer additional 450 rooms for business travelers and tourists in Iloilo.

Megaworld has also committed to make Iloilo one of the country’s biggest business process outsourcing (BPO) hubs offering close to 100,000 square meters of leasable floor area for BPO companies in the next three to five years.

“We will definitely be bringing in new and first-time BPO locators to Iloilo,” Go said.

Megaworld is the country’s biggest BPO office developer and landlord to date, with more than 450,000 square meters of BPO office space inventory as of end-2012.

The company also reported brisk demand for residential condominium units in Iloilo Business Park from the time the first condominium cluster, One Madison Place, was launched in March. In less than six months, residential units for the first two towers of One Madison Place were sold-out, allowing the company to launch the third tower last month.

Research firm Cuervo Far East, Inc. earlier released a study projecting an increase in land values in Iloilo Business Park by 21.27 percent in the next three years. Currently, land prices in the Megaworld township are at around P45,000-P48,000 per square meter. By 2016, the study revealed, land prices within the development will reach between P54,573 and P58,212/sqm, assuming that the political and economic climate will remain stable.

“The best time to invest in Iloilo Business Park is now because things are already happening. We see great opportunities in Iloilo City, and our township will help realize the city’s vision to become a major driver of economic growth in this part of the country,” Go said.

Iloilo Business Park will be home to luxury residential condominiums, state-of-the-art BPO office towers, a Megaworld Lifestyle Mall, a boutique hotel and commercial district, the 1.1-kilometer Festive Walk commercial and retail strip, open parks, transport hub, and the much-anticipated Iloilo Convention Center.