ALI sets aside P500M for BPO campuses

Ayala Land Inc. has set aside P500 million this year for the establishment of its so-called business process outsourcing (BPO) campuses in Metro Manila.

Ma. Victoria Añonuevo, ALI vice president and head of the Corporate Business Group and the Leisure and Lifestyle Group, said the BPO campuses will be located in the northern and southern parts of Metro Manila. The project, she said, would entail a development period of five years, starting this year.

Añonuevo said the company may enter into joint ventures for the northern part. Each campus, she said, will rise on a 30-hectare property.

"Initially, we’ll be setting a budget of P500 million. We’ll be forming joint ventures for the northern part. But that won’t be necessary for the southern part of Metro Manila since we own lands there," she said.

Real estate firms are bullish on the property sector fuelled by the strong office space demand from call centers and BPOs.

ALI is spending P4 billion this year for the construction of new malls as it aims to increase its gross leasable area by 400,000 square meters in the next five years.

Among these new malls are Tri Noma, a project of the North Triangle Depot Commercial Corp. which will rise on a 200,000 square meter property; Greenbelt 5 which will have 30,000 square meters of gross leasable area; Ayala Center Cebu and the retail portion at Serendra.

The Tri Noma, positioned as the entertainment and dining nucleus of Quezon City, is targeted to be completed in 2007. Landmark Department Store has agreed to be the anchor tenant.

Tri Noma will also have a new public transport terminal to be developed in the depot site, which will make the commercial center a major inter-modal transport hub and public convergence point in Quezon City.

Positioned as a fashion lifestyle center, Greenbelt 5 will be opening its doors to the public in 2008 with 31,250 square meters of leasable space. The retail portion at Serendra, on the other hand, comprises 6,400 square meters and is being patterned after the Soho-Greenwich area of Manhattan.

The expansion of Ayala Center Cebu, on the other hand, will add about 13,500 square meters to the mall.

For the whole of 2006, ALI has earmarked P15 billion to P16 billion for its capital expenditures, more than double the 2005 capital budget.

Of the total, 56 percent will go to residential developments, 26 percent (shopping centers), seven percent (office buildings) and the balance will go to landbanking activities.

In the office leasing segment, ALI is building an eight storey structure for Hongkong ang Shanghai Bangking Corp. in a 12,000 square meter lot in Fort Bonifacio. It is also developing a call center building for Infonxx, a directory call center on a 10,000 square meter lot in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

The company is planning to develop more build-to-suit office buildings outside the Makati Central Business District. In April 2005, it completed People Support Center.