CEBU, Philippines - Megaworld’s 16-hectare integrated development in Lapu-Lapu City, The Mactan Newtown, officially opens for business with the grand opening of McDonald’s, which is so far the biggest outlet in Central Visayas in terms of seating capacity.
Megaworld Cebu Properties, Inc. president Noli D. Hernandez said that more establishments like restaurants, coffee shops, among other will be opened subsequently.
The opening of McDonald’s jumpstarts the business activity within the integrated development. The Choice Gourmet Banquet Inc., the operator of the chain now operates a total of seven McDonald’s fast food stores in the country, all within Megaworld Corporation-developed projects, such as Eastwood, Mc Kinley Hills and Global City, New Port City (Resort World) in Metro Manila.
The Choice Gourmet Banquet Inc., managing director Eugene Reducindo said in an interview that the company’s first store outside of Metro Manila, in The Mactan Newtown has a total sitting capacity of over 300, which makes the store the largest McDonald’s store in Central Visayas so far.
Meanwhile, Hernandez said that by the first quarter of this year, one of two Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) will start operating inside the PEZA-registered township project, and by first quarter of 2014 about 2,000 people are expected to be hired by the BPO locators in the development.
Before this year ends, the “One World Center†tower is expected to be filled with BPO locators, and by fourth quarter of 2014 the “Two World Center†will house another batch of BPO tenants which will hire an average of another two thousand workers.
The One World Center is a five-level office building designed to serve the needs of top firms in the BPO and IT industries
Megaworld’s “The Mactan Newtown,†is a P10 billion project that is expected to be fully completed in the next five years.
The development, which is likened to Manila’s “Eastwood City,†in Libis, is a 16-hectare development that will host several residential, commercial, retail, wellness, hotel, food, entertainment and leisure facilities, and is expected to the “next†destination to watch for in Cebu.
According to Hernandez in the next five years, the Mactan Newtown will be able to help in improving the local economy by building enough space to be able to accommodate 25,000 office and BPO seats. This is estimated to generate around 40,000 jobs.
Megaworld Corporation bought the 17-hectare property in Mactan in 1997. The company started to develop the property only recently, as the company sees the right timing, and demand is considerably improving.
In November, the Lapu-Lapu City Government signed a memorandum of agreement with Megaworld Corp. for the joint venture project.
If Cebu has destinations like downtown, uptown districts, in the next few years, Cebu will have a third district destination—“The Mactan Newtown.â€
This new development is adjacent to Shangri-La Mactan and Portofino along the Hilutungan Channel near Magellan Bay, making the beach resort lifestyle even more accessible.
Meanwhile, Hernandez said that strong interest from condominium buyers in Cebu has fast tracked the construction time of its first cluster of towers in One Pacific Residences.
According to Hernandez, the company is happier with the positive result of its first project here, saying Megaworld is now on the lookout for another property that will fit for another multi-billion integrated development project.
Megaworld pioneered the establishment of cyberpark concept in the Philippines. It also first started the “live, work, and play†kind of development in the country. (FREEMAN)