By Raymart Escopel
ILOILO City – Due to strong demand, increased sales and rental inquiries for its residential, commercial and office spaces in the much-awaited Iloilo Business Park, Megaworld is now fast-tracking its developments in the said township.
According to Megaworld Senior Vice President Jericho Go, three office towers are scheduled to be completed this year. These include the One Global Center, Two Global Center and Richmonde Tower.
He added the three towers will have a total of 25,000 square meters of leasable spaces that can accommodate around 10,000 full-time employees for business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.
“With the heavy influx of inquiries from BPO companies who want to be part of Iloilo Business Park, we see the urgent need to hasten the construction of more office towers to meet the strong demand,” said Go.
In order to answer the growing demand of BPO industry in Iloilo City, Megaworld also announced the start of construction of its two additional office towers – One Techno Place and the Two Techno Place – by August.
“The two office towers is expected to generate an addition of 8,000 full-time employees in the township and will have a total of 19,000 square meters of leasable spaces that will be completed by early 2016,” Go added.
At present, StarTek, Inc., a US-based BPO company, already started its operation in Richmonde office tower this June and is poised to launch its standalone BPO office building at Two Global Center by fourth quarter of this year.
Also, as part of the continuous development in Iloilo Business Park, the biggest McDonald’s branch in Iloilo City opened on June 30.
The said branch has two floors with a total seating capacity of 250, accompanied with a play place, party area, drive-thru and parking area, according to Eugene Reducindo, managing director of Choice Gourmet Banquet, Inc., the franchisee of McDonald’s in the said township.
Meanwhile, Megaworld also announced the start of construction of its Central Mall and Festive Walk, a 1.1 kilometer commercial and retail strip parallel to the Diversion Road. The mall and the first phase of the Festive Walk will be completed by the second half of 2015.
In preparation for Iloilo City’s hosting of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation side meetings, Megaworld is scheduled to open the 151-room Richmonde Hotel Iloilo next year.
The Courtyard by Marriott, on the other hand, will be completed by end of 2015, while the 3,700-seater Iloilo Convention Center will make history as the biggest and most convention facility in Region 6 once completed.
“Megaworld is committed to help Iloilo City bring back its glory as the Queen City of the South as soon as possible. This is the reason why we are expediting our developments in Iloilo City and the entire Region of Wester Visayas to have its world-class master plan central business district that every Ilonggo can be proud of,” Go concluded./PN
