ALI’s Cebu units reposition market orientation

The Cebu-based units of leading property developer Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) are repositioning their market orientation and testing new building technologies to keep in step with an anticipated upswing in the real estate.

Boosted by the robust lot sales last year amid a weak property market, Cebu Holdings Inc. (CHI) and its subsidiary Cebu Property Ventures & Development Corp. (CPVDC) have been gearing toward projects supportive of the information technology (IT) field.

CHI, a 47-percent affiliate of ALI, has secured its place as the premier property developer in Cebu through its flagship project the Cebu Business Park, which is being transformed into a fully integrated metropolitan hub.

Aside from the centerpiece Ayala Center Cebu mall complex, CHI has built two other prime components in the Cebu Business Park: the City Sports Club Cebu and the Ayala Food and Entertainment Center.

The City Sports Club is a first-of-its-kind urban resort which opened in September 2001 and has been enjoying increasing patronage from members and their guests.

Launched a month earlier, the Ayala Food and Entertainment Center, meanwhile, has established the mall’s dominance as a dining and entertainment destination.

The 24-hectare Cebu Civic & Trade Center, developed and managed by CPVDC, on the other hand, has been transformed into the Asiatown IT Park, the only IT zone approved by the Philippine Economic Authority outside of Luzon.

With this new global gateway in place, Asiatown has attracted 43 percent more revenues last year as two of its biggest lots were sold. To further draw in locators and address the market’s need for work spaces to lease, CPVDC also innovated with a new concept in building technology – modular, efficient and inexpensive.

The "office" concept in building technology consists of uniform rows of equally-spaced modules, about 1,008 square meters in area, which are quick to build and flexible enough for the locators’ requirements.