Robinsons Land to open 3 new malls, expand 2 others

MANILA, Philippines - Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) the property development arm of tycoon John Gokongwei’s flagship firm JG Summit Holdings Inc., will open three new malls and expand two existing ones to boost its steadily growing chain of commercial centers.

In March, RLC opened its first full service mall in Calasiao, Pangasinan. The company is slated to open Robinsons Place Palawan in May and Robinsons Magnolia in July.

RLC recently completed two mall expansion projects in Tacloban and Bacolod.

Together with the two expansion projects, RLC’s gross leasable area will reach 917,000 square meters at end-September this year. In 2013, RLC will add another 100,000 sqm of GLA with four new malls and one expansion, all of which will be outside Metro Manila.

The company has alloted P13 billion for capital expenditures this year, most of which will go to construction of new malls,office buildings and hotels. Funding will come from internally-generated cash and borrowings.

RLC is currently putting up two office buildings in Ortigas with a GLA of 40,000 sqm each. These projects, when completed in mid-2013, will boost the firm’s total office GLA by 41 percent to 274,000 sqm.

Aside from this, the group is planning to open two more GoHotels this year, located in Tacloban and Bacolod. It already opened in Palawan and Dumaguete in the first quarter of the year.

These four hotels will add 416 rooms to its existing 223-room GoHotel in Pioneer, which is currently enjoying a 90 percent occupancy rate.

Citiseconline’s Richard Laneda said the hotel segment of RLC holds strong potential for growth given the company’s rapid expansion. “We believe its new hotels will also enjoy high occupancy rates given the lack of good hotels in the provinces,” he said.

RLC is spending P6 billion to build 30 GoHotels across the country over a five-year period or until 2016. Each hotel will require an investment of around P200 million.

Aside from GoHotels, the group also operates Crowne Plaza, Galleria Manila, Holiday Inn Galleria, Summit Circle Cebu and Summit Ridge Hotel.