BAYSHORE City Resorts World, the $1.1-billion integrated gaming facility in Pasay’s Entertainment City, broke ground on Wednesday. The resort is scheduled to open in four years, or by 2018.
A 31-hectare casino will complete the Entertainment City, comprised of four integrated resorts, each worth more than a billion dollars to complete.
Bayshore City will be operated by Resorts World Bayshore City Inc., a company majority controlled by
Andrew L. Tan’s gambling and leisure firm Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.
The project has a 1,500-room capacity, including The Westin Hotel Manila Bayshore of the Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts group; the Hotel Okura Manila of the Okura Hotels and Resorts; and the Genting Grand and Crockfords Tower of the Genting group.
The initial phase counts three hotels with combined rooms numbering at least 800, a casino and window shops, plus a 3,000-seater theater.
The company originally planned to begin construction by 2012, and complete the project by the fourth quarter of 2016.
Stephen James Reilly, Travellers COO, said the casino will be constructed in three phases, the first of which will start operating in 2018.
Aside from the hotels, the initial phase will cover only 12 hectares of the property, which will also contain some 77,000 square meters of retail space, a 3,000-seat theater and 10 cinemas.
Reilly declined to give specific details for the second and third phases, as this was still in various stages of development.
“Bayshore City will be the last to open here in Entertainment City. So once all the offerings are in, [it is] guaranteed the last will always have something fantastic, new, shiny offering. It’s a great position, the first mover and the last mover,” Reilly said.
Resorts World Manila in Pasay, also owned by Travellers, is the country’s first integrated resort project.
It is also undergoing expansion with the addition of new wing at Marriott, Sheraton Hotel Manila, Hilton Hotel Manila, Maxims Annex and an enhanced gaming area.
“It all started with Resorts World Manila in 2009. And now, here we are witnessing the birth of a second Resorts World. When completed, the Entertainment City will have one of the highest concentrations of tourism-oriented investments and hospitality employment in the country,” Cristino Naguiat Jr., chairman and COO of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., said.