ALI allots P4B for new malls

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has earmarked P4 billion this year for the construction of new malls as it strives to increase its gross leasable area by 400,000 square meters (sqm) in the next five years, company president Jimmy Ayala said yesterday.

Among these new malls are Tri Noma, a project of the North Triangle Depot Commercial Corp. which will rise on a 200,000-sqm property; Greenbelt 5, which will have 30,000 sqm of gross leasable area; Ayala Center Cebu; and the retail portion at Serendra in Makati.

The Tri Noma, positioned to be the entertainment and dining nucleus of Quezon City, is targeted for completion completed in 2007 with Landmark Department Store as the anchor tenant.

Tri Noma will also have a new public transport terminal to be developed in the depot site, making the commercial center a major inter-modal transport hub and public convergence point.

As a fashion lifestyle center, Greenbelt 5, on the other hand, will be opening its doors to the public in 2008 with 31,250 sqm of leasable space. The retail portion at Serendra, meanwhile, comprises 6,400 sqm and is being patterned after the Soho-Greenwich area of Manhattan in New York.

The expansion of Ayala Center Cebu will add about 13,500 sqm to the existing mall.

Ayala said ALI is also planning to divest some of its real estate properties no longer considered as strategic for the group. It has a total landbank of 4,159 hectares, consisting of four components:

Makati (54 hectares), Bonifacio Global City (44 hectares), Canlubang (1,696 hectares) and 2,365 hectares in other parts of the country. The company is considering selling 400 hectares of its existing landbank.

For 2006, ALI has earmarked P15 billion to P16 billion for its capital expenditures, more than double the 2005 budget.

Of the total, 56 percent will go to residential developments, 26 percent (shopping centers), seven percent (office buildings) and the balance to landbanking activities.

In the office leasing segment, ALI is building an eight-storey structure for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. in a 12,000-sqm lot in Fort Bonifacio. It is also developing a call center building for INFONXX, a directory call center on a 10,000 square meter lot in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

The company is planning to develop more build-to-suit office buildings outside the Makati Central Business District. In April 2005, it completed People Support Center.

ALI chief financial officer Jaime Ysmael said funding for the capex will come from a combination of internally generated cash and new borrowings.

To broaden market reach and tap the growing market of overseas-based Filipinos, ALI will also launch new residential projects for the middle-income and mass housing markets and continue to roll out new phases in existing projects including Ayala Westgrove Heights,

Ayala Greenfield Estates and Serendra.

Despite the difficulties faced by the property sector last year, ALI reported a 21 percent growth in its net income to P3.62 billion from P2.99 billion in 2004 on higher mall rentals and real estate sales and asset disposals.