Gokongwei-led developer Robinsons Land Corp. is looking at building 20 more malls in the next five years, including two in Cebu, a top executive said.
Frederick Go, president and chief operating officer, said a mall will rise on their 9-hectare property in Bogo City in the north. He declined to say where the other mall would be.
Frederick Go (CDN PHOTO/MARITES VILLAMOR-ILANO)
Robinsons Land, property development arm of JG Summit Holdings, Inc., opened yesterday Robinsons Galleria Cebu, its 41st mall in the country and biggest outside Metro Manila. Nationwide, it’s their 3rd biggest, after Robinsons Manila and Robinsons Galleria Ortigas.
Asked about their confidence in the Cebu market, Go said the company feels positively about opening another mall in the province.
“The Cebu market is really huge. It takes time for markets to absorb the inventory. But we are very confident. The population is big and purchasing power is strong,” Go said.
“More importantly, we hope that what we have built is something beautiful, something that all the Cebuanos will appreciate and like. We hope it will become the Cebuanos’ favorite place. We put in a lot of effort into this,” he added.
Galleria Cebu opened about two weeks after SM Seaside City Cebu, 3rd biggest nationwide, opened at the South Road Properties.
Robinsons presently has two malls in Cebu, Robinsons Place Cebu and Robinsons Cybergate. Both are located along the Fuente Osmeña rotunda. Nationwide, it has the second biggest network after SM.
Galleria Cebu will have about 200 tenants, including Robinsons Selections and Robinsons Department Store. It also features popular food outlets in the Visayas such as Sans Rival, Bohol Bee Farm’s The Buzzz Cafe, and The Chocolate Chamber.
Three restaurants from the Abaca group are expected to open soon, namely A Café, Phat Pho, and Luncheonette.
A four-star Summit hotel, to rise on top of the mall, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017. The 11-story hotel will have 220 rooms and a grand ballroom with a 450-person capacity. Mall entrances to the hotel will be located on levels one and four.
Go said they will start the development of three condominium buildings at the back of the mall by 2017.
Robinsons Land has allotted about P17 billion for capital spending in fiscal year 2016. Go said they will allot funds for the malls as well as for office and residential developments.
Go said key growth drivers are the robust business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, strong remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFW), and easy access to capital.
Robinsons has the second biggest mall network in the country with 41 malls, after SM Prime with 56 malls.