Fort Bonifacio News - October 2007

Construction of PSE office in Taguig slated for 2008
Business World
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW101807/content.php?id=102

AYALA LAND, Inc. (ALI), the country’s largest property developer, will start the construction of an office building that will house the new headquarters of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) by late 2008.

The building, which will be located in the Bonifacio Global City, will be similar to the 35-storey Ayala Tower One, which was completed in 1998, ALI Chief Finance Officer Jaime E. Ysmael told reporters.

The Philippine Stock Exchange plans to relocate to the emerging business district from the Tektite Building in Ortigas Center, its home for the past 15 years. The local bourse will move its trading floor to Taguig in 2010, once construction of its new headquarters is completed by Ayala Land.

In line with an agreement signed by the local bourse and the property developer last April, PSE’s new headquarters will be located in the building that ALI will construct in Fort Bonifacio.

The deal allows PSE to get office space in the new building for the return of a lot donated earlier by Fort Bonifacio developer Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. (FBDC) to the local bourse.

“It will take two years to complete the building,” Mr. Ysmael sad.

He also said PSE would have to infuse additional capital “because they need more space.”

Mr. Ysmael said the office building would be a component of the FBDC master plan for the Bonifacio Global City.

“All of the buildings there are BPO (business process outsourcing)-related. This will be the first traditional office at Bonifacio Global City,” he said.

He added that talks for anchor tenants or buyers are ongoing, and added that some brokerage firms might transfer with the bourse. “It is near the City Center; it is a very prime area,” he said.

For the office units, PSE will be giving up a 2,182-square meter property near the NBC tent in Fort Bonifacio.

The new headquarters will be located on a 5,000-square meter property surrounded by property developments in the area.

PSE plans to transfer to its new location by 2010.

Francis Ed. Lim, PSE president, has said the PSE management is keen on combining the two trading floors it maintains in the cities of Makati and Pasig under one roof. But PSE has to address a lot of technical issues and invest in information technology.

The PSE was formed after two stock exchanges that were operating that time decided to merge. The Manila Stock Exchange, which was organized on Aug. 8, 1927, and the Makati Stock Exchange, which was established on May 27, 1963, were unified on Dec. 23, 1992.

The Securities and Exchange Commission granted the PSE its license to operate as a securities exchange on March 4, 1994 and simultaneously cancelled the respective licenses of stock exchanges of Makati and Manila.

In 2002, officials of PSE and FBDC sealed the deal for the bourse’s transfer to the Bonifacio Global City. FBDC donated a parcel of land valued at P1.2 billion to become the site of the PSE headquarters and trading floor.

Other big BGC projects slated…

5 Star Hotel:
5-star hotel to rise in Bonifacio
By Ronnel Domingo
Inquirer
http://business.inquirer.net/money/t…ticle_id=87188

MANILA, Philippines — Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. and a property developer have agreed in principle to put up a five-star hotel that will cost up to $250 million in the Bonifacio Global City prime development area near the Makati business district, the government’s Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) said.

Narciso Abaya, president of BCDA, which has a 45-percent stake in Fort Bonifacio Development, said the hotel would help boost a BCDA drive to encourage high-end tourist facilities in Bonifacio Global City.

Abaya declined to identify the hotel developer, saying the BCDA agreed to keep details confidential.

“We cannot talk about it for now, but the investment will range between $150 million and $250 million,” he said.

“We expect more high-end development activities to come in because of a project like this,” he added.

Abaya also said construction of a branch of St. Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City was in full swing and the hospital would be operational by 2009.

“St. Luke’s will be a modern facility that would cater to local residents and people from all over the world,” he said.

Another project in Bonifacio Global City, formerly part of a military base, is a building for business process outsourcing companies, with a gross floor area of 30,000 square meters. A 31-story tower is also expected to be completed by 2010, under an agreement in which the Philippine Stock Exchange will put its two trading floors — in Makati and in the Ortigas business district — under one roof, Abaya said.

Completed or ongoing residential projects include Serendra, Forbeswood Heights, Kensington, Bellagio, Fairways, South of Market, and Fifth Avenue Place. Office buildings include Net Square, HSBC Building, Hanjin Philippines’ building, and the Singapore Chancery.

Abaya said an upswing in the real estate industry was sustaining the rapid growth of development in Bonifacio Global City.

Other projects in the former military base involve retail developments like the Bonifacio High Street, which is “on high gear, having completed seven buildings for retail tenants,” he said.

BCDA vice president Aileen Zosa said the BCDA was encouraging high-end projects such as hotels of at least five-star rating. She said China’s real estate development giant Shanghai Shimao group had expressed interest to develop a six-star hotel in the Bonifacio Global City.

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6 Star Hotel
Top Chinese realtor keen on Fort Boni land
By Katrina Mennen A. Valdez Reporter
Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/…70906bus7.html

Shimao Group, China’s top real estate and hotel developer, will bid for two properties in Fort Bonifacio Global City, Bases Conversion and Development Authority announced Wednesday.

Retired general and BCDA President Narciso Abaya told reporters that the Shanghai-based company has expressed serious interest in joining the bid for some 40 hectares of land inside the Jusmag compound at Fort Bonifacio.

He said Shimao plans to invest at least $2 billion for hotel development and mixed-use buildings and will be submitting its proposal by early next year.

Shimao will also bid for the 7.4-hectare land in North Bonifacio and will submit its proposal in November this year. “They are planning to construct a six-star hotel, office buildings and residential buildings,” Abaya said.

Meanwhile, the BCDA’s cumulative earnings reached P38.294 billion in a span of 15 years up to last month. Of the amount, 80 percent, or P30.360 billion were earned through the Fort Bonifacio Development Corp., while 12 percent of which valued at P4.784 billion was generated from lease and joint ventures. The remaining 5 percent, or P1.9 billion were proceeds from the sale of properties at the Fort Bonifacio and other camps managed by the BCDA, while securitization raised P1.245 billion.

Abaya said 43 percent of the earnings amounting to P16,437-billion fund the modernization programs of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, 18 percent, or P6.764 billion goes to the site development and relocation expenses and 6 percent, or P2.335 billion was allotted for tax and fees. BCDA gets 15 percent of the earnings or P5.822 billion, while the other 15 percent, or P5.90 billion is distributed to other agencies.

This year, BCDA expects to complete 59 projects as compared with last year’s 51 projects. These projects include residential developments such as the Serendra, Forbeswood Heights, Kensington, Bellagio, Fariways, South of Market and Fifth Avenue Place, and office buildings such as Net Square, HSBC Building, Hanjin Philippines, and the Singapore Chancery.

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7 Star Hotel
Group to build RP’s first seven star hotel
The Philippine Star
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=95005

A joint partnership of Filipino and Chinese businessmen will build the country’s first seven star hotel possibly in Fort Bonifacio or in the reclaimed area in Roxas Boulevard.

“The seven star hotel will be similar to the one in Dubai,” Susan Barlin, co-founder of the CEO Club Philippines, said in an interview.

The project dubbed as the Pentominium, will be a combination of retail outlets, offices and penthouses.

The 35-story luxury hotel is an exclusive hotel given that the occupants will mostly be members of the CEO club. “They will use the hotel whenever they visit here either for a vacation or business,” Barlin explained.

According to her, the group is in the process of choosing a possible location. “We are considering two areas but we prefer to build at The Fort,” she added.

In The Fort, Barlin said they are negotiating with two parties. One land they are eyeing is government owned while the other is owned by a private entity.

Barlin explained they would need at least 2,000 square meters for the seven-star hotel. If everything falls into place, she said ground breaking will be scheduled for the first quarter of 2008.

The Pentominium is one of the eight hotels the 13 man Chinese business delegation visiting the country is considering building.

The other hotels will be in tourist destinations like Bohol, Palawan, Tagaytay and Cebu. The rest of the hotels will be five star hotels.

Meanwhile, Barlin said the botched broadband deal between the government and China did not dampen the Chinese’s desire to invest in the Philippines.

“We are making new deals. We do not want to let politics interfere with progress,” she said.

Aside from hotels, Barlin said the visiting Chinese investors are also interested in developing a retirement destination for Chinese elderly in one of the islands.

“The Chinese would like to develop a retirement destination in the Philippines. They would like to build first class amenities in a beachfront property for their elderly,” she said.

She said in two years time, the country has the opportunity to earn $40 billion from the retirement industry which include income from tourism.”The children of the retirees will want to visit their parents and then take some time off themselves,” she said.

According to her, the infrastructure needed for the Chinese Village will take two years to build. However, the benefits from tourism will accrue immediately.

The amenities for the Chinese Village will be strictly first class. The island will have its own airport, hospital, hotel, nursing home and other facilities to make the retirees comfortable.

The Chinese only island will cater to the parents of the Chinese elite which makes up 10 percent of the entire population.

Beijing Capital City Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. is interested in building the project with a Filipino partner.