Are you ready for the new Greenbelt?

Mallrats love malls–all malls. We’re possessive about our malls. We’re territorial about them. We know our malls like the back of our hand. We talk about my mall, my turf, my haunt.

Each mall has characteristics that we love and hate. We loath to choose from among the malls but deep down we have our own favorites – like parents who tell people they don’t have a favorite child but they actually do.

So that’s how it is with the new Greenbelt – it’s a project so unique it has the makings of becoming a favorite even among hard-core mallrats – and to think Ayala people say that for comparison shopping, Glorietta would be a better destination because the new Greenbelt is more for leisure shopping and entertainment.

Even looking at the yet unfinished development, you know you’ll fall in love with malling all over again because they’ve thrown a lot of extras in.

When Ayala people began talking about the development a couple of years ago and showed us the renderings of structures surrounded by greenery, we were a bit skeptical. A 2.8-hectare park…That’s a lot of space that a developer would not want to squander. Think of all the leases they’re losing! Think of all wide, open spaces they could fill with leasable carts and the long list of vendors wanting a piece of the new buildings. Think of all the trees they had to buy and plant. Think of the high price of landscaping! But, thank God, the plans didn’t change even when the economy did.

The new Greenbelt development was envisioned to be a leisure center where people can spend the day walking around, dining or shopping. And that’s exactly what they’re unveiling this month and next. Even with only one structure open, you can see how different this place is going to be. Even when the trees are summer-brown and not exactly lush, you can visualize how neat it will be once they’re done with the landscaping.

With each structure connected to the next, the development starts at Greenbelt 2. It is the first to open this month, followed by Greenbelt 3 in June and Greenbelt 4 will start construction next year.

Greenbelt 2 is the car park building with parking facilities in the basement, on the second and third levels. On the ground floor are 16 dining places hand-picked by the Ayala people. They are owned by established owners, restaurateurs and chefs. Some of them are old hands with new concepts, like Margarita Fores (of Cibo) has Pepato here; while first-time restaurateur architect Ed Calma partnered up with Elbert Cuenca for Restaurant 12. There’s also Italianni’s, Soleil Cafe Moderne, the wine bar Magnum, Gloria Maris, Hola! Mingoy’s, Sugi, Nuvo, Segafredo Espresso, Cena, Dozom, Uva, Masa’s, and Temple Bar & Restaurant.

"It’s a hybrid mall," says Rowena Manhit-Tomeldan, assistant vice president for Commercial Centers Group, at a recent tour of the development. By hybrid she means the structure has, aside from commercial spaces, townhouses on the top floors. "It’s the trend abroad. We saw it in the Embarcadero in San Francisco – low-rise buildings with townhouses on the top floor."

The townhouses have 250-sq-m floor area with a Zen garden in the middle. The interiors were designed by Bernie D. Miranda, who used to work with the American firm Barry Designs and who also worked on Ayala Land’s Cebu Sports Center. The townhouses are split level with two or three bedrooms each.

The Greenbelt development was designed by Callison Architects, the same people who designed Nordstrom stores across America, LL Bean, the Skymart at Chek Lap Kok Airport, and malls such as FlatI-ron Crossing in Colorado and Ala Moana in Hawaii.

It was the FlatIron Mall that Ayala management saw and liked, according to Rowena Tomeldan. Like FlatIron along Colorado’s Front Range, Greenbelt creates an indoor-outdoor destination. The structure of Greenbelt 3 is a terrace building "that sort of cascades into the park and merges at some point."

All the spaces on the second and third level face the park. Here are small specialty shops, casual dining restaurants, food court, bars, Timezone, and the cinemas. The third level includes My Cinema, a 50-seat cinema that you can rent for private screening for friends (nothing kinky, we hope).

The ground level is the only place that’s air-conditioned because that’s where they have the retail shops.

"The 2.8 hectare park is our main attraction," says Rowena. The park will have different themes for each area, like a Zen Garden, a Palm Garden, and themed spaces such as gardens for colorful plants and white blossoms.

Greenbelt 4 will start construction next year. It will house a new and bigger Ayala Museum, three times bigger than the old one in fact. (No, the dioramas will not become life-sized. Ha!) Eventually, this will also be connected to Glorietta.

So apart from the design and concept, what makes them think the new Greenbelt will be a favorite among urbanites?

"What we did for Greenbelt is we got the best names from Quezon City, Malate, Makati and Ortigas in one area," says Rowena. "We provided parking. We made sure it’s organized. Then there’s the park. We went beyond what others provide. We feel we’re offering more than what the others offer."

In short, they’ve created an urban playground for us – mallrats, restaurant mavens and people who just want to sit quietly in a park and watch the grass grow.