Megaworld eyes P11-B rental income this year

MANILA, Philippines - Megaworld Corp. expects its rental income to hit P11 billion this year with the completion of new office towers, malls and commercial centers.

 The new projects will have a total gross floor area of more than 650,000 square meters when completed.

With these projects, the company sees its recurring income growing 20 percent by the end of the year, Megaworld senior vice president Jericho Go said.

“We are on-track to strengthen our office and mall portfolio as we continue to experience robust demand for spaces, both office and retail, in our townships. Both our offices and retail spaces enjoy a very high occupancy rate of around 99 percent across our developments,” Go said.

Megaworld is building at least 10 office towers in Uptown Bonifacio, McKinley West, The Mactan Newtown and Iloilo Business Park, slated for completion by year-end.

 These new office towers will bring in a gross floor area of 287,500 sqm.

 The new office spaces will cater to the company’s portfolio of over 150 companies, mostly engaged in the information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) sector.

Through the years, Megaworld townships have become home to some of the world’s biggest IT-BPO companies such as Accenture, Wells Fargo, HP, IBM and United Health Group.

Other projects in the pipeline include 11 malls and commercial centers in McKinley Hill, Uptown Bonifacio, McKinley West, The Mactan Newtown, Iloilo Business Park, ArcoVia City, Southwoods City and Makati. These new developments will have a gross floor area of around 371,000 sqm.

“Our malls and commercial centers primarily cater to our growing residents and BPO workers in our townships.  Megaworld offers a “ready market” to our retail partners. In McKinley Hill, for example, where we have around 80,000 BPO workers and 12,000 residents. They are the primary customers of Venice Piazza, Tuscany and the upcoming Venice GrandCanal Mall,”  Go said.