Araneta Group earmarks at least P30-B to transform Araneta Center in Cubao

The Araneta Group is spending at least P30 billion to transform the 35-hectare Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City into a major mixed-use retail district amid the rise of a central business district across the metropolis.

 

The "extreme transformation" of Araneta Center will complete the offering of the development by expanding the existing mall, adding more residential towers, business process outsourcing (BPO) buildings and hotels, and putting up a smaller theater to complement the Smart-Araneta Coliseum, Araneta Group vice president for operations Antonio T. Mardo told reporters on the sidelines of the topping-off ceremony of Novotel Manila Araneta Center Monday.

 

"We're initially earmarking P30 billion," he said. "We are not a public company. We are a private corporation so all our funds are internally generated plus loans."

 

The company is banking on the location of Araneta Center—which is sandwiched by the MRT and LRT Line 2 and houses numerous provincial bus stations—to cope with other rising business districts in Quezon City, Mardo said.

 

"We are a transportation hub. We don't worry about competition. There's a saying: Location, location, location. You can't beat it. You just have to cope with competition," he said.

 

The Quezon City government envisions the 250-hectare Triangle Park—covering properties within the North and East Triangles and the Veterans Memorial area—to be a prime central business district rivaling those in Makati and Taguig.

 

The CBD includes the 45-hectare Vertis North development by the Ayala Group and the 12-hectare Eton Centris development by Lucio Tan's property arm Eton Properties Inc.

 

In the master plan of the Araneta Center development are a total of five BPO buildings and a total of 18 residential towers with over 8,500 units, Mardo said.

 

The company official also said the expansion of Gateway Mall with a hotel brand from the Accor Group is under way. "By next year, we will start to construct the expansion of Gateway Mall with a no-frills type Ibis Hotel," he said.

 

The Araneta Group earlier partnered with the Accor Group's four-star business Novotel, which is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2015.

 

Novotel and Ibis Hotel are members of French group hotel operator Accor S.A. 

 

Apart from Novotel and Ibis Hotel, Mardo said they will add two more high-end hotels in the development. "In our plan, may tinitignan pa kami na one or two more hotels pero wala pa kaming kausap dun."

 

"The future hotels that we envision to have are high end, so we're looking at six-star hotels," he added.

 

The company will also convert an existing building into a 2,000-capacity live theater, Mardo said.

 

All buildings within Araneta Center will be connected by elevated walkways, the company official said. "These developments are interconnected. You don't walk on the streets as these are all connected by bridges or walkways.” —KG, GMA News