Vista Land to put up 50 community malls in townships

MANILA, Philippines - Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. said it plans to build 50 community malls within its masterplanned township projects across the country in the next five years as part of a strategy to shore up rental income.

Sen. Manuel Villar, Vista Land founder, said yesterday the planned malls, with an average gross floor area of 50,000 square meters, will serve the basic needs of the local residential community.

The malls will feature premium spaces, with lots of greens fronting the parking lots, convenient access and flexible mall hours.   

 “We have accumulated 65 properties. We want to take advantage of the booming real estate market by putting up retail centers to augment our leasing revenues,” Villar said.

The company’s landbank includes properties in key tourist areas that are now being developed in line with the government’s tourism drive.

Villar said the planned retail centers which will be under the Vista brand, will be different from the group’s Starmalls which are far bigger.

Under construction are five malls, located in Vista Land’s flagship Evia integrated community in Las Piñas; Posadas in Sucat; Antipolo, Muntinlupa and San Fernando, Pampanga.

Vista Land earlier signed two long-term lease agreements with Puregold Price Club Inc., which will be the anchor store in its masterplanned community projects in Pampanga and Antipolo.

It also concluded a long-term lease agreement with Tantoco-owned Rustan Supercenters Inc., which will be the anchor store in the first commercial building in Vista Land’s Evia project.

Villar said the company is aggressively expanding its presence nationwide with plans to reach 20 new areas. By end of next year, he said Vista Land expects to cover the whole Philippines.

The move is in line with its goal to provide affordable housing to every Filipino.

For this year, Vista Land is rolling out 32 new residential subdivisions in and outside Metro Manila, with an estimated total project value of P32 billion. This is significantly higher than the 23 projects launched in 2011 with an estimated value of about P21 billion.

Vista Land is the holding company of five business units – namely, Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella Homes, Communities Philippines and Vista Residences.