THREE MORE structures have joined the property boom bandwagon.

An unlikely complement to the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the art center of Manila, opened last week within the CCP complex. The 2-story, 1.2-hectare Harbour Square is several steps away from the bayside, the CCP main theater and the Folk Arts Theater.

Meanwhile, a 4.5-hectare tri-mall development is about to rise at the corner of Ortigas Avenue, C5 and Julia Vargas. The project targets the markets of Makati, Cainta, Quezon City, San Juan and Mandaluyong areas.

This development allocates 35 percent of its property to greenery and landscaping, with a 1,400-car covered parking capacity to boot.

Ongoing redevelopment

Harbour Square has blended in with its environment as it provides a large area for open spaces for previews of upcoming cultural shows and performances of the CCP. Its theme is centered on tourism, food and entertainment as well as the arts.

Harbour Square becomes part of the ongoing redevelopment of the CCP and the Mall of Asia where some residential condo projects are about to start within the next few years.

With the modernistic name of Silver City, the tri-mall project will feature an Auto Mall, Fusion-tech Mall and the Wellness Mall.

Its Auto Mall is a convention-glass type of architecture, which will showcase 80 to 100 brand-new cars from leading manufacturers and automotive dealers. It will also offer car accessories and from various shops and parts dealers, while banks and finance services, insurance services, sports lifestyle boutiques, motorbikes and jet ski products, and an event center will also be accessible.

The Fusion-tech Mall has an anchor establishment 10,000 sq-m call center inside its core and is surrounded by technology-oriented retail locators such as telecommunication hubs, IT and computer products, consumer electronics and appliances.

The mall, which will be wi-fi compliant, will have food and beverage locators.

Finally, the Wellness Mall will boast of a 3-story venue for medical services, diagnostic/laboratories, ultrasound services, pharmaceuticals, beauty centers, children's playground, fitness gym and spas. The CCP management and the developer of Harbour Square had planned for CCP to be a regular destination not only for tourists but also for the locals to patronize local arts and culture in a more massive and continuing way.

Global trend

"Most of the arts and cultural centers, including museums in almost all parts of the world have started to recreate their areas by establishing food and entertainment development concepts within their respective centers. It's a global trend that has made so much sense," said Roger M. Garcia, director for communications, Meedson Properties Corp. Meedson is the developer of Harbour Square.

He added that CCP, recognized as the best cultural site in Asia for decades, has had to make such a move to remain at par with other arts and culture centers in the region.

Said Garcia: "Anywhere in the world, one of the most expensive pieces of property is located within the bay area. The world-famous Manila Bay sunset and its proximity to the arts and culture, and tourist belt areas are the key factors why a development such as Harbour Square is a must."

David Wuson, corporate planning director of MC Mall Inc., said the Automall would cut the hassle of hopping from one dealer to the other so customers could compare the cars that they want on the spot.

"We conceptualized the niche-retail consumerism pattern after what ShoeMart started 40 years ago. We would also take what MC Home Depot did with its hardware and construction materials. They started 10 years ago with one hectare of lease space to what is now 6 hectares with a lot of similar business competitors joining the bandwagon," he said.

Making better choices

The main objective of Silver City's themed malls, he added, would be the ambience and the convenience that would empower consumers to make better choices in their buying decisions.

"Since no new condo developments were being built in Ortigas for the last few years, Robinsons Land took note of the opportunity and decided to build a new tower to serve the need," said Danilo E. Ignacio, general manager of Robinsons Land high-rise building division.

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