Robinsons Land to expand retail portfolio

MANILA, Philippines - Gokongwei-led Robinsons Land Corp.(RLC) is scaling up its retail portfolio in the next two years to boost its total mall leasable area to a little over one million square meters.

RLC president Frederick D. Go told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders meeting late Wednesday that they are building seven new shopping malls and expanding three of 29 existing malls in 2012-2013 to take advantage of the expected strong consumer spending and a booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Go said three new malls will be built this year while another four in 2013.

In March, RLC opened its first full-service mall in Calasiao, Pangasinan. The company is slated to open Robinsons Place Palawan in May and Robinsons Magnolia in July.

 RLC recently completed two mall expansion projects in Tacloban and Bacolod.

Together with the two expansion projects, RLC’s total gross leasable area will reach 911,000 square meters at end-September this year. In 2013, RLC will add another 100,000 sqm to bring the total GLA to 1.01 million sqm.

In the office sector, RLC expects to complete Cyberscape Alpha and Cyberspace Beta in mid-2013 which will increase total net leasable area to 274,000 sqm from 194,000 sqm this year.

Go said the company is scouting for more land to purchase to expand their office building portfolio.

RLC has set aside P13 billion for capital expenditures this year, majority of which will go to new mall openings, office buildings and hotels.

Aside from this, it is planning to open two more Go Hotels this year, in Tacloban and Bacolod. It already opened in Palawan and Dumaguete in the first quarter of the year.

These four hotels will add 416 rooms to its existing 223-room Go Hotel in Pioneer, which is currently enjoying a 90-percent occupancy rate.

The four Go Hotels will also expand the total number of the company’s hotel rooms by 38 percent to around 1,500.

Go said plans are currently underway for the expansion of its mid-market brand Summit Hotels in Quezon City and possibly in Mactan, Cebu.