Century Properties forays into shopping mall sector

Property developer Century Properties will debut in the shopping mall business with the opening next year of a community retail center at its flagship mixed-use development Century City in Makati.

The five-story Century City Mall is under construction and will make available for rent 110 retail units that will create a new stream of recurring income to complement earnings from residential development.

Century’s co-chief operating officer and managing director Marco Antonio said in a statement that the mall would serve as the neighborhood lifestyle center for thousands of future residents, tenants, employees and visitors in the 3.4-hectare Century City complex.

“In true Century Properties tradition, we have planned an entirely unique and different lifestyle experience for the visitors of Century City Mall,” Antonio said. “We understand that retail is an integral component of every mixed-use development, especially so when it has residential buildings. Similar to how we have incorporated innovation, quality and value to our other projects, we will seek to elevate the lifestyle experience a notch higher in our first ever retail development.”

The five-story mall will have a gross floor area of 50,000 square meters. Three basement floors with 527 parking slots have been allotted for visitors’ parking.

The retail center also seeks to attract residents from nearby villages. The mall will have a supermarket and stores for essentials, concept shops, four cinemas, cafes and restaurants.

Century City is also the site of luxury residential towers Gramercy Residences, Knightsbridge Residences, the Versace Home-interior designed Milano Residences, Trump Tower at Century City and the outpatient medical building called Centuria Medical Makati. The completion dates of these buildings will start from December 2012 to 2016.

The Century group, led by the Antonio family, has 26 years of experience in real estate development, marketing and property management. It has completed 20 condominium buildings (4,128 units) with a total gross floor area of 548,262 sqm and was managing 51 properties as of end-2011.