LOW-COST housing builder 8990 Holdings Inc. said it has signed a joint-venture agreement with Waltermart to operate two of its malls in Metro Manila.
Januario Jesus Atencio, 8990’s president and CEO, said Waltermart will operate its malls along Ortigas Avenue extension and Vitas, Tondo property.
The mall operation will complete the recurring income section of 8990’s business, which, Atencio said, was what investors have long been asking for. He said the mall may be operational as early as this year, while the recurring income will start afterward.
“Hopefully, we will have a recurring income that will make investors happy,” he said.
The company will have at least four identified sites for the shopping malls.
The identified sites that 8990 will manage include its project in Ortigas Avenue Extension in Pasig, Yakal Street in Makati, Filinvest City in Alabang, Muntinlupa and Vitas, and Tondo in Manila.
Atencio said its malls will have to cater first to the needs of its homeowners, followed by the surrounding communities.
“We’re also looking at it as a one-stop shop for everything that will cater to the needs of the call-center employees,” Atencio said, referring to one of the company projects that will have an office component.
“What are those needs, we still don’t know. Our mall partner will do that for us because we don’t know how to operate a mall,” he said.
Atencio said the company will put up a mall in those developments that are large enough and with a population density to sustain its operation.
Its 13-hectare Ortigas Avenue Extension property, for instance, will feature a mixed-use of mid-rise, low-cost condominiums, with the mall in the center that will cater to the huge and growing working class in the area.
The company’s eight-hectare property in Vitas, Tondo also has the same population density that can accept both condominium units and a mall.
“We intend to develop in our Ortigas property a residential community of around 27,000 units for this project that makes an integrated mall feasible not only for the homeowners but also for the shops, businesses, services and institutions that will locate there,” Atencio said.
The company still has to announce its plans for the three other properties as it is still under different stage of development.