Megaworld launches new office tower in Davao

MANILA, Philippines - Megaworld Corp., the flagship property unit of tycoon Andrew L. Tan, is strengthening its status as the largest office space landlord in the country with the launch of a new office tower in Mindanao.

The property developer said it will build next year the P1.2-billion Davao Finance Center, a 15-story state-of-the-art office tower that forms part of the first phase of Davao Park District, the city’s first masterplanned central business district.

“The iconic Davao Finance Center will be the first to rise in Davao Park District because we envision it to be a landmark for business, trade and commerce, especially for the information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) in Mindanao,” said Megaworld senior vice president Jericho P. Go.

“Davao City is on the right track to become Mindanao’s IT-BPO hub,” Go said, adding that the city benefits from the abundance of highly-skilled human resource and the presence of centers of excellence that ensures enough supply of highly-skilled employees to meet the demand.

Megaworld allotted P1.2 billion for the office tower, which is due for completion in 2016. The first phase of the Davao Finance Center will be able to generate around 8,000 jobs.

The firm said at least four IT-BPO companies, most of which are first-time locators in Mindanao, have already expressed interest to set up operations at the Davao Finance Center.

The office tower will stand right at the corner of Dakudao Avenue and Megaworld Avenue, which will become the township’s main artery passing through the commercial, office, and residential areas.

Davao City, Mindanao’s center of trade, commerce and education, is home to more than two million residents.

The P15-billion Davao Park District is Megaworld’s first township development in Mindanao. It will offer office towers, commercial and retail strips, open parks and lagoon, and themed-residential condominiums.

Megaworld pioneered township developments and cyberparks in the country. In 1999, Megaworld opened the 18.5-hectare Eastwood City, the country’s first cyberpark accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

For this year, Megaworld is completing six new IT-BPO towers, adding 112,000 square meters (sqm) of office space that will allow the company to cater to increasing demand from existing clients and new locators. Megaworld will end the year with a portfolio of 712,000 sqm of office space.

So far, Megaworld has 26 corporate office towers in the country: 10 in Eastwood City in Quezon City, 14 in McKinley Hill in Taguig, one in Newport City in Pasay and one in The Mactan Newtown in Cebu. A total of 126 companies are leasing from Megaworld’s office spaces offered in various townships in Metro Manila, Cebu and Iloilo.

In its 25 years of operations, the Megaworld Group has completed more than 240 residential and office buildings.

Megaworld is the property arm of Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc., which is also into liquor (Emperador Distillers, Inc.), fastfood (McDonald’s franchise operator Golden Arches Development Corp.) and hotels and casino (Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.).