MEGAWORLD Corp. on Tuesday said it is ramping up its office developments in the 11-hectare Davao Park District in Lanang, Davao City.
The company said it will build two more office towers in addition to the P1.2-billion, 10-story Davao Finance Center, currently being built near the development’s main entrance, with 20,000 square meters of leasable spaces.
The two office towers, which will be named One Republic Plaza and Emperador House, will provide an additional 30,000 sq m of office spaces. This will bring the total office inventory in Davao Park District to around 50,000 sq m.
One Republic Plaza will be a 10-story office tower, while Emperador House will be a six-story tower-featuring a European-inspired architecture.
“This is just the start of our expansion of office offerings. Being one of the top BPO [business-process outsourcing] destinations in the country, we see an upward tick in the demand for office spaces in Davao City in the next three years. Megaworld is committed to respond to this demand, so companies will not think twice of locating here,” said Jericho Go, company’s senior vice president.
Megaworld is the country’s biggest lessor of office spaces today, with an inventory of around 800,000 sq m all over the country. The company also has the most number of companies—at 130—in its roster of existing clients for office spaces. Most of the companies are involved in information technology and business-process outsourcing (BPO).
“We will bring first-time, new locators to Davao City. That’s the same thing we are doing to other cities, like Iloilo and Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu. There are many skilled talents for the BPO sector here, and we are sure about Davao City’s being a hot pick for location,” Go said.
By 2020, total direct and indirect jobs generated in the township alone will reach 100,000.
Aside from the expansion of its office portfolio, Megaworld is also building a retail row around the township. A plan to put up a hospital and a school is also under way.
At present, three towers of the residential condominium cluster, One Lakeshore Drive, are almost sold out. Another two towers are scheduled for launch by Megaworld’s subsidiary brand, Suntrust Properties Inc., within the year.
“Megaworld’s commitment to nation-building and spreading the economic prosperity to the provinces remains. In the next five years we hope to see more and more people coming home to the provinces because they find more opportunities here. This way, we also help decongest Metro Manila,” Go said.