EXECUTIVES of Ozamis-based mall developer Geege Central Mall, Inc. (GCMI) are bullish about their first venture on Mactan Island, considering its proximity to the airport and export processing zones in the area.
Edwin Lim, GCMI president and chief executive officer, said his confidence is anchored on Mactan being host to Cebu’s top accommodation establishments and its robust population as well as economic growth.
“We are very bullish because the development is only five minutes away from the (Mactan-Cebu International Airport) and around 10 minutes from the export processing zones,” he said during the tenants conference for Island Central Mall (ICM) last Thursday.
Found on a five-hectare property within the Mactan Economic Zone 1 along M.L. Quezon National Highway in Barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City, ICM is a mixed-use development seen to be the next lifestyle destination on Mactan
Island and the whole Cebu.
Lim said that the project’s two phases include the mall, which is approximately 8,500 square meters, and the 2-hectare Mactan Wharf behind it.
The executive said ICM will be the first mall in the whole country to incorporate ferry services to its operations.
GCMI allotted P1 billion for the four-storey mall and P1.5 billion for the wharf.
ICM is the Lim family’s first mall venture outside Mindanao and second overall following the opening of Geege Mall in Ozamis City 30 years ago.
Lim said at least one million people come to Mactan every day to work, get to the airport, or see tourist spots, among others.
“All of them will have to pass our mall,” he said.
They are also anticipating the surge in the number of tourists on the island once MCIA completes its second terminal, aimed at increasing airport capacity from 4.5 million to 13 million by 2018.
GCMI Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Erik Lim said they will be having a soft launch for the mall by December this year and a grand launch early in 2017.
Work on the property began in 2014.