Aseana City: A new business district rises

MANILA, Philippines - Aseana City, a sprawling masterplanned community bounded by Roxas Blvd. and  Manila Bay, is making its mark as a booming mixed-use center in Metro Manila.

As more people see the potentials and conveniences of the emerging city center adjacent to the SM Mall of Asia complex, its developer Aseana Holdings Inc. (AHI) is convinced more offices, residences, businesses and other institutions will locate in the  204-hectare development.

Already, BPO firms at the Aseana One office building, the Department of Foreign Affairs’ passport center, medium-sized condominium developers and a number of high net worth individuals have invested in Aseana City. King’s International School Manila, which is operated by the British School Group, has also located in the area.

 â€œDemand for land here has dramatically increased in the past three years. We are careful about choosing our locators. We want to create a first world city wherein a variety of building uses and functions exist in one place, ” said AHI managing director Delfin Wenceslao.

A short distance away from Manila, Makati and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Aseana City’s strategic location in the metropolis is another prime attraction. Its accessibility will further be heightened by two projects – the extension of the existing LRT Line 1 from Baclaran to Bacoor, Cavite and the construction of an elevated expressway linking the South Luzon Expressway to NAIA Terminals I, II and III and the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway.

In further anticipation of these developments, demand for more office space in the growth center has prompted AHI to construct the second tower of the Aseana office development to be completed by June 2014.

Ten years since the reclamation of the property from Manila Bay, Aseana City seeks to fulfill the vision of Wenceslao’s father, Delfin Jr., chairman of lead reclamation contractor D.M. Wenceslao & Associates Inc.

D.M. Wenceslao’s other landmark projects include:  Ciudad Nuevo, an 18-hectare reclamation project in Cavite City, Marala (Tondo) Bridge and the Alabang-Zapote flyover bridge. The company is also in the finishing stages of constructing an eight kilometer, four-lane section of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), a project envisioned to reduce travel time from Manila to Baguio by two hours.

“My father was inspired by the reclamation projects in Singapore and Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok Airport. Like those developments, we used the best reclamation technology so that Aseana City will withstand the test of time. It is also being masterplanned and managed to meet the demands of a growing metropolis and a rapidly expanding economy,” Wenceslao noted.