Ayala to put up 2 office bldgs at former San Lazaro racetrack

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is planning to build two office buildings within Manila Jockey Club Inc.’s 1:1-hectare property in Sta. Cruz, Manila, formerly the site of the San Lazaro racetrack.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ALI chief financial officer Jaime Ysmael said the company has agreed with Manila Jockey on the principal terms of a proposed office project that will comprise two buildings with an estimated total leasable area of 40,000 square meters.

"The parties have agreed to execute definitive agreements to implement the project within a period of 60 days, subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions precedent, including the conduct by ALI of a due diligence examination on the property and the project, as well as the approval of the respective boards of directors of the parties," Ysmael said.

Community Innovations Inc., the middle-income housing subsidiary of ALI, launched last year Celadon Residences San Lazaro, a master-planned townhouse community at the former San Lazaro Hippodrome.

Designed to be an intimate, exclusive community, the project offers 200 Mediterranean-inspired townhouse units grouped into clusters.

ALI has set aside P16 billion in capital expenditures this year, which include the development of the TriNoma shopping center in North Edsa, a shopping mall in Luzon, the expansion of the Ayala Center in Cebu and several residential projects.

Other projects include the construction of the retail component at Serendra in Bonifacio Global City, expansion of Greenbelt 5 which will have 30,000 square meters of gross leasable area, and several residential development projects.

The new mall to be set up in Luzon will rise on less than 100,00 square meters of land and will be similar to the Ayala Center in Cebu

Tri Noma, positioned as the entertainment and dining nucleus of Quezon City, is slated for opening in May this year with Landmark Department Store as the anchor tenant. It 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.

ALI is also planning to divest some of its real estate properties that are no longer considered strategic positions for the group. It has a total landbank of 4,159 hectares, consisting of four components: Makati (54 hectares), Bonifacio Global City (44 hectares), Canlubang (1,696 hectares and 2,365 hectares in other parts of the country. The company is considering selling 400 hectares of its existing landbank.