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Real estate giant Ayala Land Inc. continues to expand its retail leasing portfolio with the opening of 78,000 square meters of commercial space this year with 700,000 sq.m. in the pipeline as sales from newly-renovated areas more than double.
Speaking to media, ALI Executive Director and Head of Leasing and Hospitality Mariana Zobel de Ayala said “We are opening new malls. We are opening about 78,000 square meters of retail space... We also have, including the renovations, about 700,000 square meters of mall space that's currently either under planning or construction.”
These new mall spaces include the first phase of a mall in Imus, Cavite, Park Triangle in Bonifacio Global City, as well as the first phases of Solenad 4 and Arca South.
Last year, ALI started the ambitious redevelopment program for its flagship malls — Glorietta, Ayala Center Cebu, TriNoma and Greenbelt. This year, about 30,000 square meters will also be renovated.
For the portions that have already been completed, Zobel said sales have surged, noting that, “In some cases more, but on average, it's grown about two times, and the rent that we're receiving in those spaces is above the 15 to 20 percent that we told the market was going to happen.”
“We have a lot of conviction in the Filipino consumer. And part of that is is because we were very, very excited by the growth we saw in foot traffic last year. We saw 10 percent growth year on year, and for us, that was quite promising,” she added.
Meanwhile, Zobel said that, while the office space segment in general is experiencing a 20 percent vacancy, Ayala offices are enjoying a 92 percent occupancy rate.
“So we're comforted by the quality locations, the investments that we've made in quality locations and product as well. We're significantly better than the industry average,” she said.
At the same time, Ayala Land is confident of completing the renovation of its Seda Hotels in Bonifacio Global City, Abreeza, Centrio, as well as Cagayan de Oro, and its Holiday Inn Hotel in Ayala Makati by the third quarter this year.
“For the Seda properties, we're going to see between a 10-15 percent increase in the average rental rates. And we're really excited by the new design and still keeps the soul of what people love about Seda. It gives it a little bit of a refresh and something exciting for business travelers and also leisure travelers to look forward to,” Zobel said.
“We're also moving along with the renovation of Lagen Resort which we closed last year,” Zobel said adding that the completion of the 280-keys Madarin Hotel in Makati is on schedule for an opening by next year.
“We committed to the market that we were going to double our group for the hospitality business, we see a lot of potential in both domestic tourism also bringing in more regional tourists. And we have about 2,000 rooms in the pipeline already, and that's between construction and other planning,” she said.
