Megaworld taps Metro Gaisano to anchor Binondo project

MANILA, Philippines - Property giant Megaworld Corporation recently signed Metro Gaisano as its anchor tenant in a multi-billion urban renewal project in Binondo, Manila.

Metro Gaisano, the largest retail chain in the southern part of the country, is set to open Metro Supermarket at Lucky Chinatown Mall, one of three retail offerings rising in Megaworld’s large-scale, mixed-use development along Reina Regente St. in Binondo.

The 2,435-square-meter supermarket will pioneer a bi-level design that will offer customers more shopping convenience and allow merchandisers to display a wider product selection.

The partnership with Metro Gaisano is the first of its kind for Megaworld. More Metro Supermarkets are expected to open in other Megaworld Lifestyle Malls in the next few years.

The supermarket will join high-end stores and dining establishments at Lucky Chinatown Mall, one of the latest Megaworld Lifestyle Mall projects after Eastwood Mall, Eastwood City Walk, Venice Piazza at McKinley Hill, and Newport Mall at Resorts World Manila.

Megaworld FVP and Commercial Division Head Kevin Tan (center) signs a memorandum of agreement with Vicsal Development Corporation Chairman and CEO Frank Gaisano (left) and COO Arthur Emmanuel to formalize the partnership between the country’s leading township developer and the retail giant from the South. Metro Supermarket at Lucky Chinatown Mall, Binondo, will open in the last quarter.

“Our primary goal in creating Lucky Chinatown Mall is to reinvent the lifestyle of residents and tourists of Binondo,” said Megaworld First Vice President and Commercial Division Head Kevin Tan.

The 108,000-square-meter Lucky Chinatown Mall will be the first full-scale shopping mall in Binondo. Adjacent to it is the Chinatown Walk, a street concept that will showcase Chinatown’s select homegrown restaurants, delicatessen, furniture, jewelry, herbal Chinese medicine, and tea salons, among others.

Aside from four levels of shopping and dining attractions, it will host four state-of-the-art cinemas, a heritage museum and a parking facility with 1,000 slots.

The mall is strategically located in an area encompassing 29 Chinese schools and 137 residential condominiums. It will target a captive market of 2.5 million residents.

Lucky Chinatown Mall is set to welcome shoppers in the last quarter of 2011.