Megaworld Corp., the property development arm of tycoon Andrew, said it will increase to P121 billion the planned investment for a new casino within the government-sponsored Entertainment City in Parañaque.
Megaworld said in a statement it would pour in additional P54 billion in investments in Westside City Resorts World, a 31-hectare integrated resort and gaming complex, for a period of 10 years.
The amount would be more than five times the initial P10 billion that the company allocated in 2015, mostly for residential and hotel projects.
Travellers International Hotels Group Inc., the developer and operator of the Resorts World brand in the Philippines also led by Tan, already committed to invest $1.1 billion, or roughly P57 billion, to build Westside City Resorts World.
This would bring the total capital expenditure for the project to P121 billion.
“While a big portion of Westside City will be handled by Travellers International, Megaworld is pouring in a huge amount of money to expand our residential and hotel offerings within the township. The demand is high and we want to tap every available opportunity in this booming side of the metro,” Megaworld senior vice president and treasurer Francis Canuto said.
Under the plan, Megaworld will build two new homegrown hotel brands in Westside City, just in time for the initial opening of the casino complex in 2021.
These are the 529-room Kingsford Hotel and the 685-room Grand Westside Hotel, which will be conveniently linked to the casino complex and will have the unparalleled views of Manila Bay.
“We give our all-out support to the country’s growing tourism industry. Providing more hotel options will further boost tourist arrivals especially in this growth area,” Canuto said.
Megaworld will also build the 15-tower Bayshore Residential Resorts, and the four-tower Gentry Manor. So far, Westside City has around 4,000 units of residential inventory worth around P50 billion.
A part of the company’s vision for Westside City is to become the “Broadway of Asia” as the township highlights facilities for the performing arts. It will be home to the Philippines’ first Grand Opera House that has a total capacity of 3,000.
Westside City will be the fourth integrated resort and casino rise in Entertainment City. The first three are Solaire Resorts & Casino of Bloomberry Resorts Corp. which opened in March 2013, City of Dream Manila of Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp. which opened in December 2014 and Manila Bay Resorts of Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada which opened in in 2016.