Megaworld bags Villamor dev’t contract

Megaworld Corp. was awarded by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) the right to develop the 245,966-square meter Villamor Gateway Center inside the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City into a mixed-use complex, the company said yesterday.

The awarding was in connection with the second phase of the BCDA’s asset disposition program.

Megaworld submitted the highest offer in the bidding for the development of the Villamor Gateway Center with a proposal that combines an outright purchase and a joint venture arrangement.

In its offer, Megaworld proposed an initial investment of P1.305 billion that includes a committed cash payment to BCDA of P415.813 million over and above BCDA’s share in the future revenues of those areas to be developed under a joint venture arrangement.

The initial investment also includes P889.331 million in relocation and replication cost to clear the Villamor Gateway Center property preparatory to the start of full-scale development work for which Megaworld will invest several billions of pesos more in development cost.

Megaworld said the entire complex, with its strategic location near the domestic and international airports, will feature a business and technology park well suited to the requirements of local and foreign investor-locators seeking to locate their facilities and operations close to the airports.

The project will also involve the development of residential and commercial buildings in addition to a mixture of institutional and community facilities.

The development is expected to attract foreign investors, especially information technology companies that stand to benefit the most from the project’s pioneering concept and master plan as well as its state-of-the-art infrastructure and telecommunications systems.

Megaworld brings to the Villamor Gateway Center redevelopment a formidable track record as a master developer of large-scale projects such as the 15-hectare Eastwood City, an emerging satellite business district home to the Eastwood City CyberPark, the country’s first information technology park.

The company also recently signed an agreement with investment holding firm Alliance Global Group Inc. to jointly develop the 25-hectare Lawton Parkway in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig into a residential, commercial, and institutional complex.

As one of the country’s foremost property developers, Megaworld is well positioned to undertake community developments on a massive scale designed to benefit a truly wide client base.

For the first half this year, Megaworld reported a 30.5 growth in its net income to P350.68 million. Revenues rose 28 percent to P724.33 million as against P564.12 million last year. The increase was attributed to brisk selling of projects from Olympic Heights Towers, One Orchard Road Towers, Grand Eastwood Palazzo and Eastwood Cyber One, all located inside Eastwood City, Marina Residential Suits and Condominium Hotels, Forbeswood Heights in Fort Bonifacio and Greenbelt Radissions and Paseo Parkview Towers in Makati City.